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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


PEDAGOGICAL  Ma 


SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION : 


PHstorg  anli  Criticism 


MOT  TO  BE  "ROM  THF  ROOM, 

PRINCIPLES,   METHODS,  ORGANIZATION,   AND 

MORAL   DISCIPLINE   ADVOCATED   BY 

EMINENT  EDUCATIONISTS. 


BY 

JOHN   GILL, 

PROFESSOR  or  EDUCATION,  NORMAL  COLLEGE,  CHELTENHAM. 

ENGLAND.    AUTHOR  OF  "  INTRODUCTORY  TEXT-BOOK 

TO  SCHOOL  EDUCATION,"  ETC. 


BOSTON 

D.   C.    HEATH   &  CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
1889 

NOV  1906 


Education 
Library 

i 
G~  Hi 


PREFACE 

TO 

FOURTEENTH    EDITION. 

THE  Notes  to  the  present  Edition  have  been  revised 
throughout,  and  a  few  passages  unnoticed  in  former 
editions  have  been  explained.  The  references  to 
Keightley's  Mythology  have  been  replaced  by  short 
notes,  which  will  be  found  to  contain  what  is  necessary 
for  the  understanding  of  the  text.  Where  more 
information  is  required,  the  Classical  Dictionary  may 
be  consulted. 


April,  187ft. 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  year  1852,  the  Syllabus  for  Students  in  Training 
Colleges,  issued  by  the  Committee  of  Council  on  Educa- 
tion, required  that  they  should  be  instructed  in  the  Sys- 
tems of  Education  that  had  been  in  use  in  this  country. 
It  thus  became  the  Author's  duty,  in  that  and  following 
years,  to  explore  the  field,  and  to  give  lectures  in  the 
course  thus  opened  out  to  him.  Gradually  his  course 
shaped  itself  into  the  form  in  which  it  is  presented  in 
this  volume.  At  the  request  of  the  Bishop  of  Tasmania, 
then  Principal  of  the  Training  Colleges,  Cheltenham, 
some  of  these  lectures  appeared  at  intervals  in  the  Papers 
for  the  Schoolmaster.  The  whole  course  is  now  offered 
in  a  more  permanent  form,  at  the  request  of  many  of 
the  Author's  former  pupils.  But  another  consideration 
has  had  weight.  School  Education  has  to  become  a 
Science.  One  means  to  this  end  is  to  gather  and  examine 
what  has  been  done  by  those  who  have  been  engaged 
therein,  and  whose  position  or  success  has  given  them  a 
right  to  be  heard.  Nor  these  alone.  Others  have  been 
employed,  if  not  in  it,  yet  about  it.  School  education, 
at  its  present  standpoint,  is  the  result  of  many  agencies, 


IV  PREFACE. 

individual,  social,  and  national,  and  these  have  been  very 
varied,  and  often  antagonistic.  It  has  been  a  growth,  to 
which  the  philosopher,  the  politician,  the  doctrinaire,  and 
the  amateur  have  contributed,  as  well  as  the  actual 
workers  in  schools.  With  these — excluding  those  whdse 
object  has  been  mercenary — it  has  been  a  course  of 
efforts,  schemes,  mistakes,  and  failures,  but  sometimes  of 
partial  successes,  all  of  which  have  yielded  something  to 
the  fabric  as  it  now  stands.  The  Author's  hope  is  thaf 
the  sketch  here  feebly  attempted  may  stimulate  those 
just  starting  in  their  profession,  ever  to  work  with  the 
purpose  of  ultimately  placing  their  art  on  a  scientific  basis. 

One  word  as  to  the  form.  In  few  cases  are  the  words 
of  the  educational  writers  or  workers  used.  Having  but 
a  very  limited  time,  not  one  hour  weekly,  in  which  to 
present  the  salient  points  of  each  system,  he  found  he 
could  better  do  this,  without  quotation.  But  he  has 
never  consciously  altered  or  coloured  any  one's  views. 
In  this  plan  he  was  confirmed  by  finding  how  successfully 
it  bad  been  followed  in  the  Schoolmaster,  published  by 
the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge ;  to 
which  book  and  to  its  other  publications,  the  writer 
gratefully  acknowk  dges  his  indebtedness. 

February  28,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
GRAMMAR  SCHOOLS. 

PIONEERS — English  taught  in  schools — John  Cornewafle — In- 
crease of  schools — Influence  of  Chaucer — Revival  of  learn- 
ing— Colet — Wolsey's  instructions  to  masters — First  Eng- 
lish grammar. 

ROGER  ASCHAM — Hia  education — Origin  of  the  Schoolmaster — 
Discipline  in  relation  to  learning — Marks  of  a  good 
scholar  —  Chiding  —  Correction  of  mistakes  —  Corporal 
punishment — Quick  and  hard  wits — Competent  teachers — 
Learning  to  he  intelligent — Thoroughness — Examples  he- 
fore  rules — Nothing  to  unlearn. 

COMENIUS — Monitorial  principle — Intuitive  faculties — Pictorial 
teaching — Picturing-out. 

JOHN  MILTON — Spirit  of  the  educator — Influence  on  the  nation's 
life — No  formal  routine — Pestalozzian  principle  antici- 
pated— Baconian  method. — Course  of  study — Motives  to  be 
employed. 

JOHN  LOCKE — Incidents  in -life — Physical  education — Moral 
culture — Its  Place  in  a  system  of  education — Its  natnre — 
Necessity  of  knowing  childhood—  Difference  in  children — 
Early  impressions — M  cans  of  moral  training — Authority — 
Shame — Opposed  to  corporal  punishment — Obstinacy  —  Re- 
wards-Natural consequences — Skilful  teaching — Learning 
made  pleasant — Saturday  Review  quoted — Pleasant  books — 
Method  of  penmanship  —Grammar — Composition — French. 

VICESIMUS  KNOX— Opposed  to  Locke — Advantages  of  classical 
culture — Bias  of  scholar — Easy  methods  suspicious — Cul- 
ture of  memory — Early  reading — Latin  basis  of  school 
discipline — Greek  and  French — English  composition — Geo- 
graphy. ...  .Pp.  1—47 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  COMMON  SCHOOL. 

EDGF.WOHTHS — Influence  of  their  writings — Kindergarten  anti. 
cipated — Early  learning — Objections  to  alphabetic  teach, 
ing — Phonic  method  suggested — Spelling  should  follow 
jeading — Arithmetic  by  objects — Power  of  attention — 
Short  lessons — When  to  end  teaching — Connection  in 
teaching — Difficulty  of  language — Personal  motive — 
Selection  of  books — History,  how  taught — Place  of  poetry 
— Moral  discipline — Natural  consequences — Submission — 
Commands  and  prohibitions. 

x/J*£8TALOzzi — Incidents  in  life — Books  on  education — Become 
a  schoolmaster — Qualification — Experiments  and  failures — 
Leading  principles — Opposed  to  common  practices — So- 
cratic  development — Was  the  old  method  utterly  bad  ?— 
Ideas  before  words— Child  an  active  agent — Object  lessons 
— Simple  to  complex — Graduation  of  exercises— Harmonious 
development — Absurdities  in  his  practices — Moral  and  reli- 
gious training — How  develop  religious  feeling. 

Pp.  48—75 

CHAPTER  III. 

INFANTS'  SCHOOLS. 

OBEBLIN — School  at  Lanark — School  at  Westminster.        , 

WILDERSPIN — The  gaudy  cap  and  its  lesson — Qualifications  for 
his  work — His  enthusiasm — His  entei prise — Principles — 
Follow  nature — Physical  culture — Characteristics  of  child- 
hood— Moral  education — Moral  truths  and  principles — 
Moral  constitution — Playground — Cultivation  of  intelli- 
gence— The  Senses — How  to  think  rather  tban  what — 
Object  lessons  —  Lessons  in  number  —  Ball  frame  — 
Pictures. 

MAYOS — Expounders  of  Pestalozzianism — Pestalozzian  prin- 
ciples— Education  should  be  religious — Should  be  moral — 
Should  be  organic — Action  parent  of  power — Liberty — 
Harmonious  development — Progressive. 

HOME  AND  COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SOCIETY — Primary  object  in 
infant  culture — Infants'  schools  are  too  often  hot-beds — 
Aim  of  this  Society — Huge  gallery  banished — Sectional 


CONTENTS.  VI 1 

division  of  school — Development  and  intuition — Hand, 
head  and  heart — Religious  training — Its  mode — First  ideas 
of  God — Graduated  instruction — Scripture  prints — Moral 
culture — Based  on  religious  truth — Springs  of  action — 
Systematic  culture  of  the  feelings — Conscience — Training 
rather  than  teaching — Power  of  example — School  discip- 
line— Authority — Punishments — Treatment  of  obstinate 
children — Rewards  and  praise — Cultivation  of  intelligence 
— The  seuses — Object  lessons — Lessons  on  animals — 
Colour  and  form — Size  and  weight — Number. 
KINDERGARTEN  SYSTEM — Frobel — Observes  children — Their 
characteristics  —  Gifts  —  Forms  —  Inventions—  Activity — 
Taste— Number— Reading.  .  .  Pp.  76—161 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL. 

DR.  ANDREW  BELL — Origin  of  monitorial  system — Province  of 
the  school — Religion  and  morality — Relation  to  future 
callings — Attention  and  exertion — Means  of  secuiing — 
Home  exercises —Principles  and  methods— Something  to  do 
— Definite  and  thorough  work — Repetition — Reading — 
"Writing — Organization  of  school— Subordinate  officers — 
Large  classes — Arrangements  of  room— School  keeping — 
Supervision— Paidometer — Discipline  —Prevention  better 
than  cure  —Personal  improvement — Emulation — Place- 
taking — Treatment  of  offences — Punishment— objections 
to  corporal  punishment. 

JOSKFH  LANCASTER — Devotedness  to  education --Moral  training 
based  on  religious  instruction — Periods  of  school  life — 
Graduation  of  lessons — Reading — Arithmetic — Organization 
distinct  classes  for  arithmetic — classes  and  drafts — Teach- 
ing staff — Discipline — Influence  of  master — Public  opinion 
in  school — Fellenberg's  practice — Offices  of  trust — 
Training  of  the  will  —  Emotions  of  self-love  of  distinc- 
tion— Class  emulation. 

lui-jSLLECTUAJ,  SYSTEM — Culture  of  intelligence — Knowledge  of 
child  mind — No  royal  road  to  learning — Qualifications  of 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

teachers — Disciplined      mind — Apt    to    teach-  Methods — 
Interrogation — Explanation — Exposition  of  reading  lesson. 

Stow' s  TRAINING  SYSTEM — Origin  and  progress — Infant  school 
— David  Caughie — Establishment  of  first  normal  college 
training  and  teaching — Function  of  the  school — Religious 
and  moral  training — Bible  lessons — Te  ling  not  training — 
Currie  on  doing — Locke  on  training — Action  teaches — 
Condition  of  moral  training — Knowledge  of  aptitudes — 
Development  of  tastes — Freedom  from  restraint — Fear 
prevents  confidence — Temptations  not  removed — Uncovered 
school  room — Moral  review — Sympathy  of  numbers — 
Public  opinion — Long  on  school  opinion — Reid  on  school 
boy's  influence — Currie  on  sympathy  of  numbers — Intel- 
lectual culture — Leading  principle — Master  to  teach — 
Necessity  of  learning — Nothing  told  that  can  be  discovered 
— Understanding,  then  memory — Not  reasons  for  every- 
thing— Logical  faculty — Outlines  first — Picturing  out — 
Words — Scenes — Bible  lessons — Training  out — Mistakes 
and  absurdities — Induction — Collective  lessons 

Pp.  162—262 
CHAPTER  V. 
AMATEURS  AND  HELPERS. 

Present  interest  in  education— Brougham's  efforts — Central 
Society. 

THOMAS  WYSE — Knowledge  of  mind — Education  must  be  reli- 
gious that  it  may  be  moral — How  teach  the  Bible — Intel- 
ligent training — The  senses  first — All  the  faculties  - 
Method  should  be  eclectic. 

HORACE  GRANT — Interest  in  education — Special  qualifications — 
Inductive  labour — Principles — Saturday  Review  on  arithmetic. 

EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT — Shuttleworth — Principles  of  method 
— Pound's  Battersea  college — Professor  Moseley — Religious 
training— Moral  discipline — Training  of  teachers — Oral 
lessons — Tripartite  organization — Grade  schools — Tremen- 
heere — Oral  lessons — Education  of  the  whole  nature — Know- 
ledge of  mind — Poetry — Reading  lesson.  .  Pp.  263 — 304 


SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

IS  III 

GRAMMAR    SCHOOLS. 

Section  I. — Pioneers. 

THE  reign  of  Edward  III.  witnessed,  after  a  struggle  of 
three  centuries,  the  triumph  of  English,  in  the 
schools,  as  well  as  in  social  life  and  the  courts  of  law. 
Schools  had  been  chiefly  those  connected  with  cathedrals 
and  monasteries,  some  of  the  latter  class  having  been 
founded  before  the  Conquest.  These  were  intended 
chiefly  for  the  training  of  ecclesiastics.  But  there 
were  other  than  these,  found  in  towns  and  villages, 
which  were  open  to  the  laity.  Of  these  were  those 
held  probably  in  the  chamber  over  the  porch  of  the 
church,  parvise.  The  Serjeant  in  the  Canterbury  Tales 
had  been  at  parvisf..  In  these  schools  Latin  and 
French  were  taught,  and  were  the  medium  through 
which  other  things  were  acquired.  John  Cornewaile 
appears  to  have  been  the  first  to  break  through  custom 
and  prejudice,  by  introducing  into  the  school  the 
reading  of  the  mother  tongue,  it  spread,  so  that  in 
the  course  of  a  generation  "In  all  the  grammar 
schools  of  England  children  iearnoth  French  and  con- 


2  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

strueth  and  learneth  in  English."  The  Visions  and 
Creed  of  Piers  Ploughman  (Langlande),  the  tracts  and 
Bible  of  Wycliffe,  and  the  burst  of  song  in  Chaucer 
came  to  stimulate  and  reward  this  movement.  Other 
schools  under  private  persons,  that  is,  not  connected 
with  the  religious  houses  sprang  up,  due  greatly  to 
Wycliffe  and  those  who  abetted  him.  The  movement 
was  countenanced  by  Wykeham,  to  whom  it  has  been 
attributed,  that  his  school  at  Winchester  was  designed 
to  rescue  the  early  training  of  youth  from  the  hands  of 
the  monks.  The  increase  of  these  schools  seems  to 
have  alarmed  the  ecclesiastical  bodieu.  They  opposing 
Lollardry,  obtained  a  law  making  it  illegal  to  send 
children  for  tuition  to  private  persons.  But  the  impetus 
had  been  given,  and  though  for  a  century  after  Chaucer 
no  great  English  writer  appeared,  yet  it  is  evident 
that  the  learning  of  English  spread  more  and  more, 
until  literature  was  no  longer  the  possession  of  a  class, 
but  had  begun  to  be  the  heritage  of  the  people.  This 
is  shown  by  the  literature  in  demand  ;  compendiums 
of  the  scientific  and  historic  knowledge  of  the  day ;  the 
common-place  dramas,  mysteries,  and  poems,  and  the 
rhyming  chronicles.  It  is  also  shown  by  the  extent 
of  the  demand.  It  was  beyond  precedent,  so  that  few 
occupations  were  so  thriving  as  the  scriveners.  It  is 
also  shown  in  the  demand  of  some  of  the  clergy  of 
London  in  1477,  for  leave  to  open  schools  in  their  re- 
spective churches.  But  the  strongest  proof  of  all  is  in, 
the  success  that  attended  William  Caxton,  and  his 
noble  efforts,  by  translation  and  printing,  to  meet  the 
ever  increasing  demand. 
The  revival  of  learning  in  Florence,  due  greatly  to 


PIONEERS.  3 

the  Greek  scholars,  who  had  fled  there,  on  the  taking 
of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks ;  and  due  also  to  the 
influence  of  the  Medici ;  and  the  spread  of  this  revival 
in  Europe  was  another  element  in  the  upward  move- 
ment. Grocyn,  Linacre,  and  somewhat  later  Colet, 
having  studied  in  Florence,  returned  to  kindle  the  fire 
in  Oxford,  and  to  adopt  means  to  promote  the  new 
learning. 

The  reformation,  in  one  of  its  phases  a  collateral 
result  of  the  revival  of  learning,  brought  into  the 
homes  of  the  people  the  light  of  sacred  truth,  with  its 
necessary  result,  intellectual  awakening ;  and  placed 
within  their  reach  the  Bible  in  English. 

It  was  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  revival  of 
learning  that  schools  and  colleges  increased.  During 
the  latter  years  of  Henry  VIII.  moi«  grammar  schools 
were  founded  than  during  the  three  preceding  centuries. 
In  the  reign  of  Edward  and  Elizabeth  the  good  work 
went  on,  until  a  system  of  schools  was  established  for 
the  middle-classes,  which  bore  noble  fruit  in  the  next 
generations.  It  was  natural  that  this  revival  and 
progress  should  draw  attention  to  school  methods  and 
practices,  which  should  issue  in  efforts  for  their  im 
provement.  Dean  Colet  led  the  way  in  both  move- 
ments, by  the  establishment  of  his  school  at  St.  Paul's, 
placing  it  under  the  charge  of  Lilly,  and  by  reforming 
the  matter  of  study  and  the  mode  of  instruction. 
Fifteen  years  later,  Wolsey  wrote  to  the  masters  of  the 
school  he  had  founded  at  Ipswich  a  letter  of  instruc- 
tion as  to  the  methods  to  be  pursued,  gathered  probably 
from  the  writings  of  Erasmus,  and  the  practice  on  the 
Continent.  The  main  points  of  this  letter,  separater1 


4  SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION. 

from  the  detail  of  daily  work  in  each  class  are,  to  be 
careful  in  first  teaching,  to  suit  the  matter  to  the 
capacity,  not  to  force  to  learning  by  blows  or  harsh 
threats,  to  make  learning  a  game  rather  than  a  task, 
to  explain,  illustrate  and  arrange,  to  commend,  and 
to  exact  correctness  in  speech  at  play  as  well  as  in 
school. 

But  this  revival  was  not  confined  to  classical  learn- 
ing. In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  there  burst  into  leaf, 
the  tree  of  English  literature,  with  a  vigour,  a  life,  and 
a  growth,  which  have  never  since  departed  from  it. 
With  this  there  came  the  demand  for  such  culture  in 
schools,  as  would  put  this  literature  into  the  hands  of 
England's  children.  The  first  attempt  was  the  humble 
unpretentious  English  Grammar,  of  the  head  master  of 
St.  Paul's  school,  Alexander  Gill. 

Section  II. — Roger  Ascham. 

Eoger  Ascham  may  be  considered  the  father  of 
school  method.  For  though  his  "  Scholemaster  "  deals 
necessarily  with  classical  learning,  yet  it  contains 
principles  which  are  applicable  to  all  school  subjects. 
His  book  was  not  that  of  an  amateur,  but  of  one  who 
had,  for  the  age,  fair  experience  and  success  in  the 
work  of  tuition.  Born  in  1515,  he  entered,  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  just  when 
the  Greek  revival  under  Cheke  was  drawing  many  to 
that  University.  Ascham's  progress  was  rapid,  and 
the  bent  of  his  mind  was  shown  by  his  teaching,  while 
yet  a  boy,  other  boys  the  Greek  he  had  so  quickly 
acquired,  with  the  design  too  of  facilitating  his  own 


ROGER  ASCHAM.  5 

acquisition  and  use  of  it.  He  became  early  distinguished 
as  a  scholar,  obtained  his  bachelor's  degree  at  the  age 
of  nineteen,  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  his  College  a 
month  later.  He  employed  himself  as  tutor  and 
lecturer,  and  many  of  his  scholars  afterwards  rose  to 
great  distinction.  Ascham  was  not  only  proficient  in 
classical  learning,  he  had  skill  in  music,  and  was  one 
of  the  few  that  excelled  in  penmanship.  This  in- 
fluenced his  fortunes.  About  1544,  he  was  appointed 
by  Henry  VIIL  to  teach  penmanship  to  Edward  and 
Elizabeth,  and  somewhat  later  he  became  Greek  tutor 
to  that  princess.  Subsequently  he  was  Latin  secretary 
to  Edward  VI.,  an  office  which  was  continued  to  him 
by  the  good  offices  of  Gardiner  under  Mary,  and  which 
he  retained  under  Elizabeth.  With  this  queen  he  also 
read  classics  daily,  until  his  death  in  1568. 

The  origin  of  Ascham's  book  gives  the  key  to  its 
matter.  In  1563,  Sir  William  Cecil  tells  in  Ascham's 
presence  of  boys  that  had  run  away  from  Eton  for 
fear  of  a  beating.  He  also  expressed  an  opinion  that 
masters  often  punish  nature  rather  than  the  fault  of 
the  scholar  ;  and  drove  from  learning  those  they  had 
in  charg'e.  This  gave  rise  to  a  discussion,  whether 
learning  was  better  promoted  by  love  alluring,  or  beat- 
ing driving  to  it.  Ascham  expressed  himself  against 
punishments,  and  in  favour  of  methods  that  would 
render  punishment  unnecessary.  His  work  is  in  two 
books.  Book  I.  — "  Teaching  the  bringing  up  of 
Youth."  Book  II.— "The  ready  way  to  the  Latin 
tongue.  The  former  book,  to  which  we  confine  our- 
selves, treats  of  discipline  and  method. 

Ascham  is  at  pains  to  distinguish  between  the  dis- 


6  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

cipline  which  is  to  promote  progress  in  learning  with  the 
love  of  it,  and  the  discipline  which  has  to  form  the 
manners,  root  out  vice,  and  promote  growth  in  virtue. 
In  this  latter  sphere,  he  thinks  there  may  be  reasonable 
severity,  but  he  thinks  that  such  discipline  does  not 
belong  to*  the  schoolmaster.  This  opinion  has  not 
altogether  died  out,  there  being  schools  now,  where 
masters  think  their  only  responsibility  rests  in  their 
pupils'  progress  in  learning.  Still,  even  in  Ascham's 
day,  there  were  those  who  held  that  the  school  had  a 
higher  function  in  education.  "  In  such  places,"  he 
urges,  "  the  discipline  to  promote  learning  should  not 
be  of  the  same  kind  as  that  which  has  to  form  the 
character  and  reform  the  manners."  Referring  to  the 
discipline  amongst  the  Ancients  he  observes: — "The 
schoolmaster  taught  him  learning  with  all  gentleness ; 
the  governor  corrected  his  manners  with  much  sharp- 
ness, the  father  held  the  stern  of  his  whole  obedience. 
And  so  he  that  used  to  teach  did  not  commonly  use 
to  beat,  but  remitted  that  over  to  another  man's  charge. 
But  what  shall  we  say,  when  now  in  our  days  the 
schoolmaster  is  used  both  for  preceptor  in  learning, 
and  pcedagoyus  in  manners  1  Surely,  I  would  he 
should  not  confound  their  offices,  but  discreetly  use 
the  duty  of  both,  so  that  neither  ill  touches  should  be 
left  unpunished,  nor  gentleness  in  teaching  anywise 
omitted.  And  he  shall  well  do  both,  if  wisely  he  do 
appoint  diversity  of  time,  and  separate  place  for  either 
purpose."  Here  is  a  very  important  distinction  shadowed 
forth,  involving  a  very  great  principle,  and  indicating  a 
tioble  practice.  Nothing  should  be  done  in  discipline 
th;it  will  tend  to  confound  moral  distinctions  in  the 


ROGER  ASCHAM.  7 

mind  of  the  young ;  or,  that  will  make  them  think  that 
a  false  quantity  is  on  the  same  footing  as  a  lie.  This 
distinction  too  is  important,  when  weighing  arguments 
on  corporal  punishment ;  for  it  must  be  evident  that 
such  as  may  establish  the  propriety,  expediency,  or 
necessity  of  it  in  the  one  case,  may  be  utterly  worthless 
in  the  other. 

Quoting  from  Plato  the  marks  of  a  good  scholar  in 
the  judgment  of  Socrates,  he  sets  forth  these  as  the 
objects  of  discipline.  Secure  to  him  a  gsod  "  memory, 
quick  to  receive,  sure  to  keep,  and  ready  to  deliver ; 
a  love  of  learning  ;  a  desire  to  labour ;  a  will  to  take 
pains ;  willingness  to  be  taught  by  any  one ;  and  not  to 
be  ashamed  to  ask  questions." 

To  attain  those  objects,  "  never  chide  hastily."  Look 
well  to  your  ground  and  consider  what  will  be  its 
effect  on  the  pupil.  "  Hasty  chiding  dulls  the  wit 
and  discourages  diligence."  "  Why  are  you  angry,  sir? 
Indeed  I  am  doing  as  well  as  I  can," — was  a  reply 
that  elicited  from  Arnold,  "  I  was  never  so  ashamed  in 
my  life."  "  Monish  gently."  Faults  have  to  be 
pointed  out,  but  it  should  be  in  a  way  "  that  shall 
make  him  both  willing  to  amend,  and  glad  to  go  for- 
ward in  love  and  hope  of  learning."  Hence  monition 
should  be  mixed  with  encouragement.  Love  is  a  better 
spur  than  fear,  gentleness  is  better  than  bullying,  soft 
words  are  better  than  stinging  ones.  "  For  whatsoever 
the  mind  doth  learn  unwillingly  from  fear,  the  same  it 
doth  gladly  forget  without  care."  In  further  illustration 
he  compares  children  learning  to  ride,  and  learning 
their  book.  "  Schoolmasters  by  fear  do  beat  into  them 
the  hatred  of  learning  ;  and  wise  riders,  by  gentle  allure- 


8  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

ments,  do  breed  up  in  them  the  love  of  riding.  They 
find  fear  and  bondage  in  schools,  they  feel  liberty  and 
freedom  in  stables."  Meeting  an  obvious  objection 
that  riding  is  a  pastime  and  therefore  easy  to  children, 
while  learning  is  labour  and  wearisome,  he  rejoins, 
"Beat  a  child  if  he  dance  not  well,  and  cherish  him 
though  he  learn  not  well,  ye  shall  have  him  unwilling 
to  go  to  dance,  and  glad  to  go  to  his  book,"  for  "  the 
mind  of  a  child  is  like  the  newest  wax,  able  to  receive 
the  best  and  fairest  printing,"  hence  a  child's  likings 
or  dislikings  are  due  to  his  educators. 

Correction  of  mistakes  or  faults  should  not  degrade, 
nor  discourage,  but  stimulate.  In  doing  this  necessary 
work,  there  must  not  be  a  frown,  nor  the  fault  put 
down  to  wilfulness.  "  Cicero  would  have  used  such  a 
word,  or  put  it  in  such  a  place."  Here  he  exhibits 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  An  illustration  is  at 
hand  in  the  "Daily  News  "of  the  autumn  of  1872. 
Its  correspondent  attended  the  field  manoauvres  of  the 
English  army,  and  a  few  days  later  he  was  performing  ' 
a  similar  duty  with  the  German  army  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Berlin.  "  If  an  officer  in  the  former  case  made 
a  mistake  he  was  soundly  rated  in  the  presence  of  the 
staff;  but  in  the  case  of  the  German,  the  General  said 
'  Had  I  been  charged  with  such  a  movement,  I  would 
have  conducted  it  so  and  so.'  Here  the  self  respect  of 
the  officer  was  considered,  who,  beside,  would  on  a 
similar  occasion  try  to  do  the  thing  as  his  distinguished 
general  would  have  done  it." 

Seating  should  never  be  employed  to  promote  learning. 
Generally  it  breaks  rather  than  bends,  mars  rather  than 
mends.  It  tends  to  associate  such  disagreeable  things 


ROGER  ASCHAM.  9 

with  learning  as  to  make  children  detest,  rather  than 
love  it,  drive  from  it,  rather  than  allure  to  it  It  often 
leads  to  tyranny.  Beaters  often  allow  ill  humour  at 
other  things  to  find  vent  on  the  pupil.  Indulging  the 
practice  of  inflicting  pain  for  faults  not  of  a  moral 
nature,  has  a  tendency  to  harden  the  master,  and  to 
render  him  insensible  to  the  claims  of  justice.  It  is 
often  unjust.  As  Cecil  said,  it  more  frequently  punishes 
nature  than  corrects  faults  ;  for  the  slow,  and  dull, 
and  heavy  get  the  heating,  while  the  quick  and  easy 
getters  obtain  the  praise.  Pain  is  thus  inflicted  for 
natural  qualities,  instead  of  being  reserved  for  moral 
•offences. 

There  should  be  discrimination  between  quick  and 
hard  wits.  Quick  w  its  are  apt  to  take,  unapt  to  keep, 
easily  got  and  quickly  gone,  soon  hot  and  soon  cold- 
They  are  like  sharp-edged  tools,  which  enter  easily  but 
do  not  penetrate  to  a  great  depth,  because  their  edges 
are  soon  turned.  Hence  few  quick  wits  are  -ever  pro- 
found ;  but  exception  is  to  be  made  here  for  the  excel- 
lently gifted.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  quick  at 
school  seldom  turn  out  well  as  men  ;  they  live  obscurely 
and  die  unknown.  The  remedy  is  a  judicious  system 
of  repetition  which  will  make  their  learning  thorough. 
Hard  wits  are  the  hope  of  the  school,  and  ultimately 
do  society  and  the  commonwealth  most  service.  Here 
is  encouragement.  Hard  wits  are  those  who  find  it  hard 
to  iearn,  and  who  are  hard  to  teach.  He  compares  them 
to  hard  woods  and  hard  stones  in  the  hands  of  the 
engraver  and  sculptor.  The  tool  makes  scarcely  any 
impression  ;  it  requires  much  toil  and  much  skill  to 
trace  a  line  or  to  chisel  a  feature,  but  the  work  is 


10  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

lasting.  Lapse  of  time  and  the  action  of  the  elements 
destroy  it  not.  It  realizes  "I  work  for  eternity."  Now 
your  hard  wits  are  just  such.  Hard  to  get,  hard  to 
lose,  sure  to  keep.  He  compares  them  also  to  tools 
which  enter  with  difficulty,  but  penetrate  deeply. 
Here  is  probably  the  reason  of  their  slowness,  they  are 
not  satisfied  like  the  quick  with  being  superficial. 
They  are  not  like  the  butterfly,  here  and  there,  but 
like  the  bee,  staying  at  a  flower  till  it  has  gathered  all 
it  contains. 

The  principles  for  conducting  instruction  found  in 
Ascham  are  few  but  pregnant.  His  first  care  would 
be  to  provide  a  competent  instructor.  But,  alas! 
"  men  look  for  a  cunning  man  for  their  horse,  but  not 
for  their  children."  They  show  this  in  the  salaries 
they  give.  "  Two  hundred  crowns  to  the  one,  two 
hundred  shillings  to  the  other."  They  reap  accordingly 
— "tame,  well-ordered  horses,  wild  children.  They 
get  more  pleasure  from  their  horses  than  comfort  from 
their  children." 

Ascham  requires  that  the  master  shall  teach  as  well 
as  the  pupil  learn,  and  in  order  thereto.  The  pupil 
should  understand.  .The  master  is  to  spare  no  pains 
to  make  him  carry  away  the  sense.  He  requires  as  a 
test  and  as  a  means  that  the  child  shall  do  by  himself 
what  he  had  before  done  with  his  tutor.  It  is  only 
through  teaching  that  learning  is  profitable.  "  Learn- 
ing without  teaching  makes  lubbers, — always  learning, 
never  profiting."  He  draws  a  comparison  between 
what  children  learn  from  books,  and  what  they  obtain 
by  the  use  of  their  senses  and  by  experience.  The 
one  is  .practical  and  valuable,  the  other  stale  and 


ROGER  ASCHAM.  11 

profitless.  Learning  -without  intelligence  is  simply, 
"  on  the  tongue  and  lip,  to  be  spit  out  when  occasion 
needeth ;  that  which  is  understood  ascends  to  the  brain, 
is  assimilated,  and  becomes  fruitful." 

Learning  must  be  thorough  as  well  as  intelligent. 
These  things  satisfy  the  mind  of  the  pupil  and  clear 
his  path.  "  They  give  pleasure  to  children,  pleasure 
excites  love,  love  provokes  labour,  and  labour  effects 
its  purpose."  Thoroughness  requires  that  there  should 
be  order  in  his  work  and  repetition.  "  Let  the  master 
read  unto  him  the  Epistles  of  Cicero.  First  let  him 
teach  the  child  cheerfully  and  plainly  the  cause  and 
matter  of  the  letter;  then  let  him  construe  it  into 
English  so  oft  as  the  child  may  easily  carry  away  the 
understanding  of  it;  lastly,  parse  it  over  perfectly. 
This  done  thus,  let  the  child  by  and  by  both  construe 
and  parse  it  over  again,  so  that  it  may  appear  that  the 
child  doubteth  in  nothing  that  his  master  taught  him 
before.  After  this  the  child  must  take  a  paper  book, 
and  sitting  in  some  place  where  no  man  shall  prompt 
him,  by  himself,  let  him  translate  into  English  his 
former  lesson.  Then,  showing  it  to  his  master,  let  the 
master  take  from  him  his  Latin  book,  and  pausing  an 
hour  at  least,  then  let  the  child  translate  his  own 
English  into  Latin  again  in  another  paper  book.  The 
master  must  compare  it  with  Tully's  book,  and  lay 
them  both  together." 

In  order  to  thoroughness  and  subsequent  progress, 
there  should  be  cultivation  at  first  only  of  a  small 
area.  He  recommends  that  a  good  but  easy  and  short 
book  should  be  selected,  and  this  so  completely  worked 
and  mastered  as  to  be  equally  at  command  with  the 


12  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

mother  tongue.  This  advice,  necessary  then,  is  ten- 
fold more  so  now.  How  wide  the  area  of  human 
research  at  present !  How  vast  the  domain  of  knowledge 
already  won  !  How  persistent  the  devotee  to  each 
special  subject,  that  his  shall  enter  into  the  curriculum 
of  the  school !  How  dogmatic  the  doctrinaire,  that 
the  subjects  in  school  shall  be  many,  and  that  their 
limits  shall  not  be  circumscribed !  And  with  what 
results  ?  Let  the  disclosures  in  connection  with  the 
Civil  Service  examinations,  and  the  system  of  enfeebling 
cram,  give  the  reply.  No  !  the  hint  of  Ascham  should 
be  the  rule  in  school — "  a  small  area  well  cultivated." 
This  only  will  give  thorough  knowledge,  strength  of 
mind,  and  sound  education. 

"  Heedful  mending  of  faults  "  is  necessary  both  to 
intelligence  and  thoroughness.  Correction  of  mis- 
takes is  oftentimes  the  best  instruction.  We  get  a 
clearer  insight.  "  A  child  learns  more  from  two  faults 
than  from  four  things  rightly  hit." 

Examples  before  rules,  and  rules  deduced  from 
examples,  are  two  important  principles  which  are  in- 
dicated by  Ascham.  Speaking  of  Latin,  he  would  have 
the  learner  become  familiar  with  the  language,  and  for 
himself  discover  its  syntax,  rather  than  the  common 
practice  of  giving  him  the  rule  and  leaving  him  to 
apply  it.  These  two  invaluable  principles  are  but  now 
bearing  fmit  in  school  matters,  so  persistent  is  bad 
method,  and  so  difficult  to  overcome  the  inertia  that 
prevents  thought.  But  our  author  has  no  sympathy 
with  idleness,  nor  with  any  master  who  adopts  what 
seems  the  easier  method  of  tasks,  instead  of  one  that 
makes  constant  demand  on  his  own  mental  power 


COMEN1US.  13 

The  practice  of  a  boy  being  set  to  do  things  at  such 
a  time,  or  in  such  a  way,  that  he  learns  many  things 
that  he  has  afterwards  to  unlearn,  comes  under  animad- 
version. Thus  are  often  produced  faults  that  no  later 
care  can  cure.  His  instance  is  taken  from  setting  boys 
to  Latin  composition  before  they  had  sufficient  know- 
ledge and  skill  in  the  language.  The  rule  condemns 
the  too  frequent  practice  of  giving  for  correction  false 
syntax,  false  speech,  and  false  spelling ;  and  the  per- 
mitting of  practices  in  learning,  and  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic,  which  afterwards  prove  hindrances  to 
progress. 

Section  III. — Comenius. — Milton. 

John  Amos  Comenius  was  born  at  Comna  in  1592. 
His  parents  were  Moravians,  and  he  himself  became  a 
pastor  in  that  community.  Forced  by  the  burning  of 
Fulneck,  in  the  religious  war,  to  leave  that  town,  he 
became  rector  of  a  school  at  Lesna,  in  Poland.  Here 
he  began  his  career  as  an  educational  reformer.  In 
1G31  he  published  his  "  Janua  Linguarum,"  and  other 
works  followed.  Of  these  the  "  Janua "  and  the 
"  Orbis  "  were  translated  into  most  European  and  into 
some  of  the  Oriental  languages.  Having  thus  become 
known  he  was  sought  for  by  several  Governments  to 
put  their  systems  of  public  instruction  on  a  better 
basis.  For  this  purpose  he  was  invited  to  England, 
and  remained  here  from  1638  to  1642,  when  the  cut- 
break  of  the  civil  war  caused  him  to  leave.  In  1638 
he  published  in  London  an  edition  of  his  "  Janua 
Linguarum, "in  Latin,  English,  and  French, — "The  Gate 


14  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

of  Tongues  Unlocked  and  Opened."  In  this  and  his 
other  books  there  are  many  valuable  suggestions  for 
the  improvements  of  method  of  instruction. 

Acting  on  the  hint  of  Quintilian,  that  the  new 
learner  is  the  best  teacher,  he  employed  pupils  to  in- 
struct less  advanced  pupils,  thus  anticipating,  as  had 
been  done  with  Ascham  at  Cambridge,  the  monitorial 
plan  of  mutual  instruction.  His  "  Gate  of  Tongues  " 
and  his  "  Orbis  "  unfold  a  plan  of  aiding  the  acquisi- 
tion of  languages  by  calling  into  exercise  the  percep- 
tive and  intuitive  faculties.  For  this  purpose  he  would 
have  the  matter  of  the  lessons  such  as  would  address 
itself  to  the  senses,  or  would  be  easily  understood ;  as 
natural  history,  trades  and  professions,  and  science. 
He  also  introduced  pictorial  illustration  into  his  books 
and  teaching.  This  practice  instantly  became  popular; 
Dr.  Doddridge  informing  us  that  it  was  the  common 
method  in  his  childhood,  for  mothers  thus  to  teach 
their  little  ones.  A  still  further  advance  is  the  re- 
commendation, when  things  and  pictures  fail,  to  em- 
ploy graphic  description,  or  "  picturing  out."  It  is 
curious  to  note  the  use  by  Comenius,  of  a  term,  for  the 
supposed  invention  of  which  Stow  received  some  hard 
criticism. 

It  is  evident  that  these  practices  of  Comenius  con- 
tain the  germs  of  things  afterwards  associated  with  the 
names  of  Pestalozzi  and  Stow.  It  also  may  be  safely 
assumed  that  many  methods  that  are  now  in  extensive 
use,  were  then  not  unknown  to  earnest  teachers,  for  it 
is  hard  to  believe  that  any  one  ever  was  a  real  teacher 
who  did  not  emp'oy  rational  methods. 

JOHN  MILTON  was  induced  by  a  friend  to  write  a 


MILTON.  15 

small  tract  on  what  he  calls  "  one  of  the  greatest  and 
noblest  designs,  the  reforming  of  education,"  This 
tract  appeared  a  few  years  subsequently  to  the  depar- 
ture of  Comenius,  to  whom  the  author  evidently  refers, 
when,  not  denying  his  obligations  to  the  Ancients,  he 
asserts  no  inclination  to  search  "  Modern  Januas  and 
Didactics."  Milton's  scheme  was  not  that  of  a  mere 
theorist,  but  of  one  who  himself  had  been  engaged  in 
tuition.  His  own  education  had  been  carefully  con- 
ducted, being  already  an  accomplished  scholar,  when, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  entered  St.  Paul's  School. 

The  openifig  proposition,  whether  intended  so  by 
Milton  or  not,  admirably  sets  forth  the  spirit  in  which 
the  work  of  education  should  be  carried  on.  "  The  only 
purpose  which  should  act  as  a  motive  in  the  pursuit  of 
any  object  worthy  to  be  remembered  or  imitated  is  the 
love  of  God  and  of  mankind ! "  This  excludes  mercenary 
motives.  Not  that  a  man  should  not  be  paid  for  his 
labours,  and  that  in  proportion  to  its  value  to  the 
commonwealth,  and  to  the  skill  and  ability  it  requires ; 
but  to  attain  the  highest  results  in  education,  results 
not  to  be  appraised  by  a  money  value,  a  man  must  be 
animated  by  a  far  higher  consideration  than  the  amount 
of  money  it  secures. 

Living  in  stirring  times,  in  which  many  were  making 
sacrifices  for  the  public  good,  Milton  is  influenced 
thereby,  and  contends  that  education  should  produce 
well-informed  citizens,  and  good  members  of  the  state. 
This  is  one  great  aspect  of  the  teacher's  work.  He  is 
advancing  the  nation's  knowledge,  and  he  is  influencing 
the  nation's  life  What  the  intellect  and  moral  life  of 
the  people  of  the  future  will  be,  will  always  depend  on 


16  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

the  work  in  the  schoolroom.  There  is  laid  either  the 
"  Seed  corn  of  a  harvest,  or  the  powder  train  of  a  mine." 
But  a  yet  higher  purpose  is  to  animate  the  school- 
master— Human  nature  is  in  ruins,  and  we  ought  to 
seek  its  repair.  This  can  be  done  "  only  by  knowledge 
of  God,  love  to  God,  and  hence  imitation  of  God,  until 
we  become  like  God." 

We  gather  that  Milton  attaches  no  value  to  a  formal 

,  routine  of  lessons,  but  requires  a  system  of  teaching 
that  would  arouse  thought  as  well  as  exercise  memory. 
This  is  the  constant  cry  of  the  educational  reformer. 
Forsake  your  mechanical  drill,  your  setting  of  tasks, 
your  burdens  on  memory,  and  give  us  work  that  will 
produce  thinkers.  In  order  to  this  the  relation  of 
language  to  culture  should  be  understood.  Things  are 
to  be  known  rather  than  words  or  rules,  and  the 
knowledge  of  words  is  best  obtained  through  the 
knowledge  of  things.  Here  the  Pestalozzian  principle 
is  anticipated,  and  also  the  application  of  it.  "Cer- 
tain things  can  be  made  known  only  by  the  sensible 
and  visible.  They  cannot  be  presented  at  all  but  by 

"*  concrete  examples.  Such  are  divine  things.  To  re- 
present the  divine  to  us,  human  imagery  is  employed." 
But  the  same  thing  is  true  of  many  subjects,  and  thus 
"  the  same  method  is  to  be  followed  in  all  discreet 
teaching."  Language  not  only  embodies  things,  but 
also  records  for  us  the  experience  and  traditions  of 
other  people  and  of  other  times.  It  is  therefore  an 
instrument  conveying  to  us  things  useful  to  be  known. 
Hence  it  becomes  an  instrument  of  culture,  but  it  fails 
in  this  office,  unless  the  things  contained  in  it  become 
the  property  of  the  mind.  Language  is  the  great 


SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION.  17 

store  house  of  the  treasures  of  the  past,  hut  if  it  is  only  a 
verbal  possession,  it  is  like  a  storehouse  the  inlets  to 
which  have  been  closed  up.  Hence  though  a  man 
know  all  the  tongues  that  Babel  cleft  the  world  into, 
yet  if  he  have  not  studied  the  solid  things  in  them,  he 
is  not  learned. 

Milton  is  quite  Baconian  in  protesting  against  begin- 
ning where  the  true  philosopher  ends.  True  method 
is  to  begin  with  objects  of  sense,  and  to  gather  facts. 
He  is  strongly  urgent  that  early  instruction  should  be- 
gin with  things  that  are  easy,  and  that  are  obvious  to 
the  sense ;  and  that  it  should  be  real  and  thorough. 
The  result  of  the  opposite  plan  is  pernicious  to  the 
individual  and  to  society.  The  picture  is  very  start- 
ling. Disgust  with  learning,  and  with  its  babblement 
w  of  course.  Nothing  being  ever  clearly  understood, 
there  is  no  real  knowledge,  and  the  whole  thing  is  con- 
sciously to  the  scholars  a  deception  and  a  sham.  Thus 
by  being  taught  at  school  to  appear  to  know,  and  to 
speak  as  if  his  knowledge  was  real,  when  he  is  con- 
scious that  it  is  not,  he  is  trained  in  the  habit  of  un- 
truth. The  result  is  that  truth  is  absent  from  life, 
from  society,  and  that  there  is  no  profession  in  which 
is  to  be  found,  truth,  virtue,  or  a  high  aim.  So  that 
it  is  found  that  in  all  affairs  of  life  persons  are  actuated 
by  mercenary  considerations,  or  they  give  themselves 
up  to  a  loose  and  voluptuous  career. 

His  scheme  embraces  the  education  of  the  boy  and 
youth  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  includes  manly 
exercises  and  accomplishments.  The  earlier  course 
should  include  good  interesting  books,  that  will  allure 
to  study,  win  to  thought,  and  incite  to  virtue.  Arith- 
C 


18  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

metic  and  geometry  should  come  in  every  day.  The 
evening  should  be  given  to  the  grounds  of  religion  and 
the  study  of  Scripture.  But  nothing  should  be  exacted 
beyond  the  power  of  the  pupil,  such  as  "  the  prepos- 
terous exaction  of  forcing  the  empty  wits  of  children 
to  compose  themes  and  essays  "  on  subjects  which  only 
those  of  enriched  minds  and  ripe  judgments  can  at- 
tempt. He  also  lays  down  the  rule  that  as  learners 
advance,  they  ought  often  to  retrace  their  steps,  and 
work  over  again  their  earlier  studies.  The  whole 
scheme  of  study  embraced  Latin  and  Greek  authors, 
first  pleasant  as  Plutarch,  then  useful  as  those  on  agri- 
culture and  philosophy  ;  astronomy  and  geography ; 
architecture,  fortification  and  engineering ;  religion  and 
ethics;  natural  philosophy,  natural  history,  botany, 
and  anatomy  ;  jurisprudence,  logic,  and  poetry. 

The  motives  that  he  would  employ  may  be  gathered 
from  hints  here  and  there  in  the  tract.  Learning 
should  be  made  pleasant,  by  administering  to  faculties 
belonging  to  the  period,  and  by  furnishing  delightful 
books.  Careful  instruction  and  explanation  should  be 
given  on  every  opportunity,  so  that  they  may  be  drawn 
to  willing  obedience,  and  be  inflamed  with  the  love  of 
learning.  By  mild  and  effectual  persuasion  with  the 
mixture  of  some  fear,  if  need  be,  they  should  be  led 
to  admire  virtue,  and  they  should  be  stirred  up  with 
high  hopes  of  living  so  as  to  be  dear  to  God,  and 
famous  to  all  ages.  They  should  be  taught  to  despise 
and  scorn  childish  and  ill-taught  qualities,  and  they 
should  be  trained  in  such  precepts  and  practice  as  will 
make  them  hate  the  cowardice  of  doing  wrong.  Finally 
example  should  gain  them  diligence  and  courage,  and 


JOHN   LOCKE.  19 

tafuse  into  their  young  breasts  such  an  ingenuous  and 
noble  ardour  as  would  make  many  of  them  renowned 
and  matchless  men. 


Section  IV. — John  Locke. 

John  Locke,  "  the  father  of  English  philosophy," 
was  born  at  Wrington  in  1632.  His  early  education 
vras  by  his  father,  and  was  conducted  with  great  care 
and  success.  But  the  troubles  of  the  time,  and  hi* 
father  serving  in  the  Parliamentary  army,  broke  up 
this  arrangement,  and  he  was  placed  at  Westminster 
school  In  the  remembrance  of  his  own  early  career 
we  have  probably  the  origin  of  his  preference  for 
private  tuition  over  the  public  school.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  he  proceeded  to  Christchurch,  Oxford,  where, 
in  addition  to  the  prescribed  Aristotelian  course,  he 
solaced  his  philosophical  spirit,  by  the  private  perusal 
of  the  works  of  Bacon  and  Descartes.  The  latter 
appears  to  have  had  no  special  influence  over  him,  but 
from  the  former  he  obtained  the  method,  which  he 
subsequently  applied  to  the  investigation  of  mental 
phenomena.  On  leaving  the  university  he  adopted  the 
profession  of  medicine,  but  his  constitution  was  too 
weak  to  allow  him  to  practise.  In  1665,  having  suc- 
cessfully treated  Lord  Ashley,  subsequently  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury,  in  case  of  an  abscess,  "  he  accepted  the 
invitation  of  that  nobleman  to  reside  iii  his  house  ; 
and  from  this  time  he  attached  himself  to  his  fortunes 
during  his  life,  and  after  death  vindicated  his  memory 
and  honour."  The  studies  of  Lord  Shaftesbury 's  son, 


20  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

and  of    his   grandson,  the   author   of  the   celebrated 
Characteristics,  were  under  the  direction  of  Locke. 

The  "  Thoughts  on  Education  "  appeared  in  1693. 
and  reappeared  invested  with  all  the  genius  of  Rousseau. 
in  "  Emile."  Produced  when  the  author  was  verging 
on  sixty,  for  they  were  written  several  years  before  they 
were  printed,  they  were  the  product  of  mature  judg- 
ment, and  of  one  whose  professional  studies,  acquain- 
tance with  mind,  actual  experience  in  the  work  of 
tuition,  active  but  chequered  career,  and  habits  of 
inind  well  fitted  him  for  the  work  he  had  undertaken. 
The  peculiar  style  of  the  book,  its  discursive  character, 
and  want  of  system  are  due  to  the  "  Thoughts,"  having 
been  originally  written  in  a  series  of  letters  to  a  friend. 
The  book  was  well  received,  not  only  in  his  own 
country,  but  especially  on  the  continent,  being  trans- 
lated into  (rerman,  Dutch  and  French;  Leibnitz 
speaks  highly  in  its  praise,  and  at  a  later  time,  Kousseau 
embodied  its  teaching  in  his  "  Emile."  Still,  as  it 
attacked  vested  interests,  and  advocated  private  tuition 
in  preference  to  that  of  the  school,  and  very  consi- 
derably widened  the  sphere  and  altered  the  mode  of 
culture,  it  was  not  universally  accepted,  and  in  fact,  is 
now  in  some  places,  for  the  first  time  bearing  fruit. 
A  ceutui-y  later,  Vicescimus  Knox,  the  veriest  tory  in 
school  matters,  says,  "  For  the  names  and  abilities  of 
Milton,  Locke,  Rousseau,  and  of  others  who  have 
written  on  education,  I  entertain  all  the  respect  which 
is  due  to  them.  Their  systems  are  plausible,  and  truly 
ingenious.  The  world  has  long  placed  them  high  in 
the  ranks  of  fame,  and  with  respect  to  their  general 
merit  as  writers,  they  indisputably  deserve  their 


JOHN   LOCKE.  21 

honours.  But,  when  they  wrote  on  education,  they 
fell  into  the  common  error  of  those  who  attend  to 
speculation  more  than  to  practice.  In  the  warmth  of 
the  innovating  and  reforming  spirit,  they  censure 
modes  of  treatment  which  are  right,  they  recommend 
methods  which  really  cannot  be  reduced  to  practice, 
and  which,  if  they  could,  would  be  useless  or  perni- 
cious. It  is  indeed  easy  to  censure  things  already 
established,  and  project  new  institutions.  The  world 
is  commonly  tired  of  that  to  which  it  has  been  long 
accustomed,  and  fondly  attached  to  novelty.  It  is, 
then,  no  wonder,  that  visionary  writers  on  education 
are  greatly  admired,  though  their  directions  can  seldom 
be  closely  pursued." 

Locke  places  the  formation  of  character  and  manners 
above  mere  learning,  hence  he  is  urgent  that  the] 
choice  of  a  tutor  is  of  the  first  moment.  Consider  his  J 
work.  "  It  is  to  fashion  the  carriage  and  form  the 
mind ;  to  settle  in  his  pupils  good  habits,  and  the 
principles  of  virtue  and  wisdom  ;  to  give  him  by  little 
and  little  a  view  of  mankind,  and  work  him  into  a  love 
and  imitation  of  what  is  excellent  and  praiseworthy  ; 
and  in  the  prosecution  of  it  to  give  him  vigour,  acti- 
vity, and  industry."  "  Under  whose  care  soever  a 
child  is  put  to  be  taught  during  the  tender  and  flexible 
years  of  his  life,  this  is  certain,  it  should  be  one  who 
thinks  Latin  and  languages  the  least  part  of  education  -} ) 
one  who,  knowing  how  much  virtue  and  a  well  tem- 
pered soul  is  to  be  preferred  to  any  sort  of  learning  or 
language,  makes  it  his  chief  business  to  form  the  mind 
of  his  scholars  and  give  that  a  right  disposition; 
which,  if  once  got,  though  all  the  rest  should  be  neg- 


22  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

locted,  would  in  due  time  produce  all  the  rest;  and 
which,  if  it  be  not  got,  and  settled  so  as  to  keep  out 
ill  and  vicious  habits — languages  and  sciences,  and  all 
the  other  accomplishments  of  education,  will  be  to  no 
purpose,  but  to  make  the  worse  and  more  dangerous 
man." 

Writing  for  home  education,  Locke  gives  directions 
for  the  care  of  the  case,  as  well  as  that  which  it  con- 
tains, the  mind.  Metis  sana  in  corpore  sano  was  a 
maxim  he  could  well  appreciate.  Physical  education 
has  in  charge  diet,  clothing,  sleep,  exercise,  fresh  air 
and  cleanliness.  Some  of  these  things  are  removed  from 
the  immediate  influence  of  the  elementary  school.  Yet 
the  teacher  may  do  much  to  diffuse  right  views  and  to 
secure  right  practice  in  regard  to  them.  Combe,  by  his 
work  on  "Physiology applied  to  Health  and  Education," 
happily  aroused  public  attention  to  this  subject,  and  dfd 
much  to  promote  it  in  schools.  Instruction  in  physiology 
and  the  laws  of  health  ;  daily  inspection  and  insisting 
on  the  pupil  being  clean  in  his  person  and  clothes  ; 
inquiries  once  or  twice  weekly  as  to  washing  the  feet, 
sponging  the  body,  followed  by  friction  with  a  flesh 
brush  or  coarse  towel ;  attention  to  ventilation  and 
keeping  the  school  room  floor  and  walls  scrupulously 
clean,  and  school  drill  and  healthy  games  are  now  found 
in  many  of  our  schools.  In  one  district,  described  at 
the  time  by  one  of  Her  Majesty's  inspectors  as  "  remote 
from  civilisation,  and  marked  by  general  indifference  to 
education,"  the  persistent  efforts  of  a  schoolmaster  led 
to  a  general  improvement,  not  only  in  the  habits  of  his 
pupils,  but  in  many  of  their  homes. 

It  is   not   necessary  to  enter  into  detail,  but  the 


JOHN   LOCKK.  23 

following  things  aie  noteworthy.  The  strength  of  the 
body  lies  in  being  able  to  endure  hardship,  hence  their 
training  should  make  children  hardy.  To  this  end 
they  should  not  be  pampered,  nor  should  they  be 
shielded  from  every  risk,  or  a  present  security  is 
obtained  at  the  expense  of  danger  from  future  ex- 
posure. Although  his  dictum  about  "  leaking  shoes ' 
might  seem  to  countenance  it,  yet  of  course  he  does  not 
mean  that  children  should  be  trained  to  fool-hardiness. 
The  knowledge  of  the  teacher  should  correct  the  inex- 
perience of  the  child,  and  should  lead  to  interference 
whenever  the  necessity  existed.  As  exercise,  and  es- 
pecially exercise  in  the  open  air,  is  essential  to  the 
strength  and  soundness  of  the  body,  all  indications  of 
a  lazy  or  indolent  disposition  must  be  promptly  treated. 
The  child  must  be  stimulated  to  use  all  its  energies  in 
play  as  well  as  work,  and  occasions  must  be  provided 
for  exercise  whenever  it  is  seen  that  there  is  a  disin- 
clination to  it.  But  the  rule  now  to  be  given  is  unex-  l^ 
ceptionally  sound.  The  course  of  treatment  in  all 
physical  education  should  tend  to  form  habits.  Habits 
of  body  and  habits  of  practice  are  the  ends  to  be  se- 
cured. If  this  be  so,  the  withholding  that  which  is 
usual,  or  its  neglect,  will  be  a  source  of  discomfort  or 
uneasiness.  For  instance,  early  hours  of  retiring  and 
rising  may  by  habit  save  from  future  excess.  So  habit 
may  render  physic  unnecessary.  In  forming  habit  the 
treatment  should  not  be  fitful  but  periodic ;  it  should 
not  be  hap-hazard,  but  guided  by  rule  and  wise  discre- 
tion ;  and  in  the  case  of  exercise  it  should  be  prolonged 
to  the  point  of  fatigue  to  secure  the  end  in  view.  /  - 

Locke  places  moral  education  in  its  right  place.     It  ( 


24  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

s should  take  precedence  in  mental  culture.  Moral  good; 
is  not  to  be  bargained  away  for  any  learning  whatever.' 
A  great  truth  this  which  the  educator  is  too  apt  to 
forget  or  neglect.  (It  is  so  much  easier  to  cultivate 
intelligence  than  to  form  a  virtuous  character,  that 
this  is  too  little  attempted  or  not  persistently. 

JOf  the  nature  of  moral  education  Locke  says,  that  its 
great  aim  is  to  secure  to  the  child  the  complete  sub- 
jection of  his  appetites  and  passions,  his  desires  and 
inclinations  to  reason.  In  other  words  it  is  the  con- 
quest of  self.  These  are  his  words  : — "  As  the  strength 
of  the  body  lies  chiefly  in  being  able  to  endure  hard- 
ships, so  also  does  that  of  the  mind.  And  the  great 
principle  and  foundation  of  all  virtue  and  worth  lies  in 
this,  that  a  man  is  able  to  deny  himself  his  own 
desires,  cross  his  own  inclinations,  and  purely  follow 
what  reason  directs  as  best,  though  the  appetite  lean 
the  other  way." 

Let  us  understand  his  meaning  here  and  we  have  the 
key  to  his  sjrstem,  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of  his 
teaching.  When  he  says,  strength  of  mind  lies  in  the 
ability  to  endure  hardships,  he  means  that  there  is  a 
temper  of  mind  that  scorns  to  be  governed  by  pleasure 
or  pain,  and  that  will  not  allow  the  desires,  inclinations, 
or  passions  to  control  the  actions  only  so  far  as  reason 
allows.  He  would  have  a  Spartan's  contempt  of  danger 
with  his  indifference  to  ease  and  comfort;  a  stoic's  su- 
periority to  the  solicitations  of  pleasure  or  the  infliction 
of  pain ;  and  a  Christian's  obliteration  of  self  from  all 
his  pursuits  and  a  complete  subjection  of  his  body  and 
mind  to  the  highest  reason. 
$  Such  a  course  to  be  successful  must  be  begun  early. 


JOHN  LOCKK.  25 

It  must  begin  on  the  mother's  lap,  be  continued  in  the 
nursery,  followed  when  sitting  at  table,  and  must  not  ' 
be  forgotten  in  the  presence  of  visitors.  But,  alas  ! 
early  training  raises  barriers.  Seeds  are  sown  which, 
taking  root,  are  never  afterwards  extirpated.  In  this 
early  time  there  is  too  often  the  "  positive  teaching  of 
vice."  Children  are  taught  to  take  childish  revenge  on 
anything  that  gives  them  pain,  and  are  permitted  and 
sometimes  taught  to  strike  those  that  have  the  charge 
of  them.  They  are  tricked  out  in  finery,  and  are 
fondled  for  their  pretty  looks,  and  are^accustomed  to  a 
mode  of  treatment  that  fixes  their  regards  upon  them- 
selves^ (They  are  taught  by  example  to  lie.  Admira- 
tion is  given  for  what  at  a  later  time  would  receive 
reproof.  Instances  of  clever  deceit,  pert  forwardness, 
and  pretty  wilfulness  are  recited  with  smiling  approval 
in  their  presence.  Love  of  eating  and  drinking  ia 
fostered  by  the  dBvious  importance  attached  to  it  by 
their  elders,  and  by  "  dainties "  being  proposed  as 
rewards.  On  food  the  right  maxim  is,  that  food  is 
given  not  because  it  is  pleasant,  but  because  it  is  neces- 
sary. Schoolmasters  may  think  that  on  these  points 
they  are  never  likely  to  err.  What  then  is  to  be  said 
of  the  practice  not  uncommon  of  keeping  a  child  from 
dinner  because  of  ill  conduct  at  school  ?  Such  a  prac- 
tice elevates  eating  to  a  position  it  ought  not  to  occupy. 
To  punish  a  moral  offence  by  depriving  of  food  is  to 
place  the  two  things,  moral  duty  and  eating,  on  the 
same  level.  Nor  is  it  quite  clear  that  schoolmasters 
are  guiltless  in  other  matters.  How  often  do  they 
allow  in  younger  children  what  they  would  not  in 
older  ones  !  Is  this  wise  ?  People  allow  license  for 


26  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

little  improprieties,  considering  them  harmless.  Listen 
to  Locke.  The  proportion  of  the  fault  to  the  age  is 
the  same,  so  that  a  little  impropriety  is  as  culpable  in 
a  child  as  a  great  fault  in  an  older  person.  Also  in* 
dulgencenow  will  lead  to  expect  similar  indulgence  at  a 
later  period  of  desires  and  passions  no  longer  innocent. 

/"All  this  is  culpable  negligence  of  the  mind  and  disposi- 
tion in  the  most  impressible  time^  and  may  be  con- 
trasted with  the  judicious  management  and  elaborate 
attention  bestowed  on  dogs  and  horses. 
(To  educate  rightly  it  is  necessary  to  study  the  child. 
Two  distinct  classes  of  mental  faculties  offer  themselves 
to  view,  those  common  to  all,  those  peculiar  to  the 
individual.  Of  the  qualities  indigenous  to  human 
nature  it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  a  few  which  have  a 
legitimate  sphere,  but  which  uncultivated  develop  into 
weeds  that  become  ineradicable  from  the  character. 
Amongst  others  of  this  class  are  love  of  liberty,  love  of 
dominion,  sense  of  property,  and  desire  of  possession. 
From  these  roots,  unless  tended  with  determined  vigour, 
spring  the  weeds  of  license,  selfishness,  contention,  ra- 
pacity, violence,  tyranny,  cruelty,  and  injustice.  Ap- 
plying his  great  principle  to  these  matters  we  have 
•7  (  the  rule  that  nothing  is  ever  to  be  granted  to  a  child's 

^  fancies,  but  only  to  his  wants.     That  any  fanciful  or 

^  wilful  preference  of  one  thing  to  another  must  be 
treated  as  caprice,  therefore  not  to  be  allowed,  but 
rigorously  withstood.  He  also  contends  that  the  earliest 
manifestations  of  violence,  domineering,  tyranny  over 

slower  animals,  improper  bearing  towards  inferiors, 
should  be  rigidly  put  down.  He  also  gives  us  some 
practical  rules  of  great  value.  Complaints  of  one 


JOHN   LOCKE.  27 

against  another  should  be  discouraged,  for  sufferance 
without  redress  is  better  than  an  indulged  sensitive- 
ness.    If  notice  is  taken  of  the  case,  and  the  aggressor 
is  to  be  reprimanded,  it  had  better  not  be  in  the  pre- 
sence of  him  who  cpmplains.     Still  principles  of  jusA 
tice  should  be  strenuously  insisted  on,  hence  all  in- 
stances of  real  injustice  should  be  noticed  and  rectified.  V 
However  trifling  the  thing  or  worthless  in  itself  the  \ 
act  of  injustice  is  not  trifling.     Nay,  nothing  is  trifling  / 
that  helps  to  form  the  character.     .Nor  is  the  morality' 
of  an  action  to  be  estimated  by  the  inconvenience  it 
may  occasion,  the  loss  inflicted,  or  the  injury  done. 
Eternal  justice  is  equally  violated  whether  a  pin  or  a 
pound  be  stolen.     It  is  necessary  ever  to  discriminate] 
between   acts   of  ignorance  and   of  a   perverse   wilLv 
More  acts   that   are   wrong  in  themselves  proceed  in  S 
children  from  the  former  than  from  the  latter.     The  I 
practice,  for  instance,  of  children  pulling  flies  to  pieces  i 
more   frequently  proceeds  from   ignorance  than  fromy 
wilful  cruelty.     The  remedy  would  be  to  exhibit  a  fly 
and  a  maimed  specimen  through  a  microscope.     When 
such  acts  do  occur,  when  a  wrong  thing  is  first  con. 
sciously  done,  it  should  be  met  with  a  show  of  wonder, 
as  inconceivable.     Proceeding  on  the  same  principle, 
children  should  not  be  informed  of  evil  things.     They 
should  never  be  named  in  their  presence.     Evil  should 
not  be  brought  before  their  minds ;  for  talking  of  such 
things  sets  them  thinking,  and  thus  their  minds  become 
familiarized  with  things  which  otherwise  might  never 
enter.     Never  speak  of  evil  till   the  necessity  for  it 
unfortunately   exists.     For  a   similar  reason   do   not] 
warn  children  against  possible  faults ;  and  this  for  the 7 


28  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

further  reason  that  such  warning  implies  distrust,  and 
distrust  is  a  temptation  to   pride  or  -bravado.     Stirau- 
(   lake  children  to  that  which  is  good  and  you  will  more 
j  effectually  prevent  the  entrance  of  that  which  is  evil. 

"  The  odour  of  the  wine  that  first  shall  stain 
The  virgin  vessel,  it  will  long  retain." 

J    That  we  may  educate  children  aright  we  must  study 
)  their  peculiarities.     Differenr.es  exist.     There  are  dif- 
'  ferences  of  natural  endowment,  difference  of  tempera- 
ment, differences  in  inherited  tendencies,  differences  in 
moral   and   emotional   susceptibilities.      "  There   will 
always  be  some  predominant  qualities,  good  or  evil, 
and  these  will  more  or  less  for  ever  belong  to  him." 
By  which  is  to  be  understood  that  he  will  ever  have 
certain  mental  peculiarities  that  will  distinguish  him 
from  others  and  influence  all  he  is  and  does.     This 
,    being  the  case  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  educator  to 
observe  and  study  the  child,  that  he  may  know  these 
^peculiarities;  and  that  he  may  strengthen  that  which 
is  weak,  correct  that  which  is  wrong  and  rightly  guide 
and  improve   all   that   is   desirable   and   good.     The 
'  peculiarities  of  children  are  best  seen  when  they  are 
\  least  under  restraint.     Hence,  in  the  matter  of  games, 
^~y   they  should  be  allowed  to  indulge   their  fancy  ;  all 
J[  should  be  free  and   unrestricted ;    for   it   is   only  by 
leaving  him  free  in  his  recreations,  that  the  child's 
particular  bent  is  shown.     "  Such  knowledge  is  neces- 
sary, for  it  is  found  that  rules  for  education  do  not 
always  serve  because  of  these  differences,  as  the  same 
method  of  treatment  is  not  always  followed  by  the 
same  result.     It  is  also  necessary  that  the  right  means 


JOHN   LOCKE.  29 

may  be  adopted  to  mortify  evil  qualities,  strengthen 
good  ones,  and  so  improve  the  general  stock." 

The  means  of  moral  education  have  therefore  to  be 
wisely  ordered.     It  is  not  by  rules  and  precepts   that 
moral  intelligence  is  cultivated,  or  moral  habits  formed. 
"It  is  a  great  fault  in  education  to  burden  children's 
minds  with  rules  and  precepts  about  their  conduct, 
which  are  seldom  understood,  and  therefore,  soon  for- 
gotten ;  and  it  is  still  more  unreasonable  to  visit  wit! 
punishment  the  infraction  of  such  rules."  /That  chil-, 
dren   may  know   what    is   right   you  must   teach   by| 
example.    It  is  thus  that  the  precept  will  have  meanii 
and  force.     But  they  must  also  do  what  is  right.     To 
this  end  you  must  seize  on  every  occasion  that  presents 
itself,  and  if  necessary   make   occasion.      The  grand 
business  is  to  form  habits  of  right  practice,  and  not  to 
depend  on  the  memory  of  a  right  precept.     But  habits 
cannot  be  formed  only  by  patient  and  continued  prac- 
tice, and  there  is  absolutely  no  other  road  to  morality  ^  ( 
and   virtue.     Laws    then   should    be   few    and    well  y 
observed. 

The  first  principle  that  should  be  implanted  in  the 
child's  mind  is  submission  to  authority.  This  is  what 
he  means  by  awe  of  the  parent.  The  parent  is  to  the 
child  in  God's  place,  and  his  will  is  the  sanction  of  its. 
actions.  He  also  holds  that  treatment  in  early  lifej 
should  be  rigid.;  By  this  is  not  meant  that  it  should 
be  severe,  but  that  it  should  not  be  lax.  There  is  no 
hardship  in  this.  A  child  finds  hardship  not  in  law 
but  in  laxity.  The  laws  of  nature  are  not  relaxed  for 
childhood,  and  the  child  soon  learns  to  accommodate 
iteelf  to  them.  Principles  should  be  rigidly  carried 


30  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

out,  else  the  educator  is  not  a  support  to  the  child, 
when  from   its  ignorance   and  weakness  it  needs  it. 
/  But  when  childhood  gives  place  to  youth,  and   the 
/     reason  and  habit  permit,  then  a  rigid  system  is  out  of 
\     place.     Then  the  time  has  come  when  the  co-operation 
/     of  the  youth  should  be  sought  by  treating  him  as  a 
\    rational   being.     <£hat   which   is   required    from   him 
should  be  explained,  so  that^he  may  bo  convinced  that 
it  is  just  and  reasonable.    (The  establishment  of  autho- 
rity early  is  the  surest  way  to  obtain  obedience,  respect, 
and  then  love.     This  order  cannot  be  reversed.     It  is 
impossible  to  lay  a  basis  of  love,  and  on  it  to  build 
authority.)  It  is  an  instinct  to  despise  him  who  gives 
up  his  right  to  rule,  and  love  cannot  exist  where  there 
is  not  respect 

How  to  establish  authority  and  to  secure  right  prac- 
tice  introduces  the  question  of   motive,   and   conse- 
quently of   punishment   and   reward.     QPam,   for  the 
purpose  of  reform  or  to  deter,  is  punishment.     Pain  is 
bodily  or  mental.     The  former  includes  corporal  chas- 
)  tisement  and  all  other  modes  of  reaching  the  mind 
I  through  the  body.    The  latter  includes  reproof,  rebuke, 
A  censure  or  anything  else  whose  direct  tendency  is  to 
/  produce  shame.  CThe  object  to  be  secured  by  punish- 
V  ment  is  an  ingenuous  shame  for  having  done  wrong^) 
/-In  the  first  instance  this  painful  emotion  arises  from 
having  forfeited  the  good  opinion  of  another ;  then  it 
springs  up    with  the    consciousness  of    having  done 
\  something  which  we  know  would  forfeit  such  opinion  ; 
Vbut  it  finally  comes  for  having  done  wrong.    Now  such 
feeling  is  one  of  the  strongest  safeguards  against  evil 
courses.     Hence  it  is  the  thing  which  we  aim  to  secure. 


JOHN   LOCKE.  31 

Rebuke,  having  this  end,  is  often  an  effective  punish- 
ment. That  it  may  be  soyit  must  seem  to  proceed  from 
a  just  displeasure?) (It  must  not  be  conveyed  in  harsh 
language^  as  this  can  scarcely  ever  do  good,  and  must 
often  do  harm.  It  forfeits  the  child's  respect,  it  forfeits 
his  affection,  and  by  frequency  loses  its  power  It 
should  never  proceed  from  passion.  In  that  case  th« 
teacher  places  himself  in  a  position  of  inferiority  to  the 
child  and  thus  loses  his  influence  and  authority. 

In  relation  to  corporal  punishment,  the  thing  to  be 
remembered  is,  that  it  is  the  mind  that  has  to  be  in- 
fluenced.^,/ Is  it  desirable  to  do  this  by  bodily  pain  1 
At  the  first  blush  it  is  seen  that  the  motive  is  bad. 
It  is  an  important  aim  in  education  to  lead  children 

despise  pain.  It  will  be  their  inevitable  lot  to 
meet  it  in  a  variety  of  forms,  and  if  they  easily  suc- 
cumb, their  future  life  will  be  worthless  to  themselves 
and  others.  The  motive  too  is  often  inoperative.  It 
may  be  but  a  choice  of  pains,  the  drudgery  of  a  task 
or  the  cut  of  the  cane,  and  the  lad  may  care  less  for 
the  latter  than  the  former.  It  may  be  inoperative 
because  some  other  motive  overpowers  it,  as  bravado, 
or  the  consciousness  of  the  sympathy  of  others. 
Bodily  pain  is  made  to  appear  the  punishment,  whereas  ; 
shame  at  being  whipped,  or  rather  shame  for  needing  V 
punishment,  is  the  feeling  to  be  excited.  It  often -•* 
tends  too  to  prevent  shame,  or  to  destroy  it,  than  which 
nothing  worse  could  happen,  for  shame  in  children 
holds  the  same  place  as  modesty  in  women,  once  gone 
all  other  evils  follow.  CjBodily  pain  never  alters  the 
natural  inclinations,  but  tends  to  strengthen  them.  It 
in  a  slavish  discipline  and  produces  a  slavish  temper, 


32  SYSTEMS   OP   EDUCATION. 

or,  it  breaks  the  mind  and  makes  it  cowardly  and  timid, 
There  is  one  case  in  which  Locke  thinks  it  necessary — • 
obstinacy.  "  But  be  sure  it  is  obstinacy."  A  recom- 
mendation on  which  the  Brighton  case,  where  a  lad  was 
flogged  to  death,  throws  light.  In  such  a  case  as  the 
appearance  of  obstinacy,  there  is  probably  a  mistake, 
and  even  if  there  be  a  fit,  if  whipping  "  does  no  good 
it  does  great  harm."  Study  the  child's  disposition,  and 
weigh  well  the  consequences,  before  resorting  to  this 
treatment.  If  one  whipping  does  not  improve  the 
child,  abstain  from  further  infliction.  There  is  one 
thing  Locke  recommends  as  the  last  resort,  which  might 
well  be  placed  first,  "  pray  for  the  child." 
f  Locke  objects  to  rewards  on  similar  grounds.  They 
\  appeal  to  motives  which  it  is  desirable  to  repress  and 
i  eradicate.  How  then  is  moral  discipline  to  be  promoted  1 
By  children  suffering  the  natural  consequences  of  their 
actions.  The  desire  of  esteem  is  strong  in  them.  They 
are  very  sensible  of  praise  and  commendation.  They 
get  their  first  notions  of  right  and  wrong  from  the 
manifestation  of  approval  or  disapproval  by  those 
about  them.  Hence  right  doing  is  attended  by  an 
unbroken  inte/course.  Everything  runs  smoothly  and 
pleasantly.  J  (But  when  wrong  is  done  the  carriage  of 
those  about  him  makes  him  sensible  that  a  different 
state  exists,  there  is  a  "  change  necessarily  belonging 
to  and  constantly  attending  one  who  has  brought  him- 
self into  a  state  of  disgrace,"  and  the  child  feels 
that  he  has  fallen  "into  neglect  and  contempt.".  This 
mode  of  discipline  commends  itself  as  like  that  which  we 
experience  in  the  providential  government  of  the  world  ; 
it  commends  itself  alsoCtp  the  sense  of  justice  inherent 


JOHN   LOCKE.  33 

in  the  child ;  and  as  it  is  of  wide  application,  and  thi- 
occasions  for  acting  on  it  occur  continually,  it  is  likely 
to  form  the  child  to  the  habit  of  acting  constantly  in 
reference  to  the  consequence  of  its  actions^  Since 
Locke's  time  the  principle  has  often  been  urged  and 
illustrated,  but  perhaps  never  more  prominently  than 
by  Herbert  Spencer. 

Coming  to  learning,  we  find  that  Lpcke  would  have 
right  methods  and  skilful  teaching.  CjSkill  in  teachings 
consists  in  getting  and  keeping  the  attention  of  the) 
scholar ;   whilst  he  has  that   he  is  sure  to  advance  as 
far  as  the  learner's  abilities  will  carry  him.     His  aimc 
must  be  to  create  a  love  of  learning.     It  will  help   to' 
this  if  the  bearing  of  the  teacher  is  marked  by  sweet- 
ness and  tenderness,  showing  that  it  proceeds  from  love 
to  the  child  ;  and  as  love  begets  love,  the  child  will 
come  to  attend  to  that  which  gratifies  his  teachers  The\ 
usefulness  of  what  he  is  taught  should  be  made  clear.  ) 
'He  can  do  some  things  w  hich  he  could  not  before,  and 
thus  he  has  real  power  and  advantage  over  others  who 
are  ignorant.      Advantage    should   be  taken   01    the] 
natural  curiosity  of  children,  which  is  an  appetite  forV 
knowledge  that  should  be   carefully  encouraged   andj 
kept   active.     Their  inquiries  should   be  listened   to 
with  patience  and  attention,  and  should  be  answered. 
Give  them  just  what  they  wish  to  know,  but  no  more 
than  they  can  pleasantly  receive.    Their  mistakes  must 
not  be   laughed  at.     They   should  never  be  put  off\ 
with,  evasive  answers.     In  the  case  where  the  teacher  \ 
cannot  answer,  the  best  way  is  to  confess  ignorance,  or  1 
his  present  inability  to  reply.     Children  soon  come  to 
learn   that   no  roan   can  know  everything,  and  they 


34  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

readily  give  their  respect  and  confidence  to  him  who 
hus  the  courage  to  avow  ignorance.  As  children  like 
novelty,  and  are  unable  from  physical  causes  to 
give  attention  long  to  one  thing,  there  should  be  a 
variety  of  studies  provided  for  them.  This  principle 
is  sound,  but  was  forgotten  by  Locke,  when  he  recom- 
mended that  writing  should  not  be  attempted  till 
the  child  had  learnt  to  read,  and  when  he  would  with- 
hold arithmetic  until  this  was  fairly  acquired. 

Locke  urges  that  learning  should  be  made  pleasant 
to  children,  that  it  should  at  first  be  a  play  and  recrea- 
tion. He  shows  his  meaning  by  referring  to  learning 
the  alphabet  and  words,  by  means  of  dice.  Wolsey 
expressed  a  similar  wish.  Is  it  legitimate  1  Speaking 
of  Locke's  plan  of  learning  to  read,  Vicesimus  Knox 
says  "  Reading,  if  it  was  a  game,  was  still  such  a  game 
as  the  child  liked  less  than  his  other  diversions.  It 
was,  indeed,  a  game  at  what  he  would  never  play  if  he 
could  help  it.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  it  is  right  to 
give  him  a  notion  that  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  to 
play.  Let  him  know  that  he  has  business  of  a  serious 
kind, — we  all  come  into  the  world  to  perform  many 
duties,  and  to  undergo  many  difficulties ;  a\id  the 
earlier  the  mind  learns  to  bear  its  portion  of  them,  the 
less  likely  will  it  be  to  sink  under  those  burdens  which 
will  one  day  be  imposed  upon  it."  Upon  the  general 
question,  a  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review,  has  these 
remarks  : — "  Ought  learning  to  be  made  as  pleasant  as 
possible  ?  If  we  could  turn  all  study  into  play,  would 
children  be  the  better  for  it  1  The  answer  is,  that  there 
ore  obvious  limits  to  the  process  in  the  nature  of  things, 
There  are  some  things  in  early  training,  which  may 


JOHN   LOCKE.  35 

be  made  a  pleasant  puzzle  to  the  child,  and  may  be  ir- 
vested  with  all  the  attractions  of  a  game.  But  it  is  a 
process  that  does  not  really  awaken  the  intellectual 
faculties,  and  if  it  is  a  common  thing — common  to 
make  the  learning  depend  on  the  process  being  pleasing 
or  exciting — then  those  things  which  can  offer  no  imme 
diate  interest  or  pleasure,  will  be  less  attractive  than 
before.  Now  in  every  conceivable  branch  of  study, 
and  after  every  possible  inducement  has  been  exhausted, 
there  must  remain  a  great  mass  of  pure  wearisome 
drudgery.  In  all  literary  pursuits  after  school 
life  is  over,  there  have  to  be  often  months  of  patient 
accumulation  of  dry  material,  before  there  can  be  any 
repaying  work,  and  much  of  this  is  simply  wasted 
labour,  having  no  appreciable  effect  on  the  result.  In 
active  life  the  case  is,  if  anything,  stronger.  Every 
lawyer  or  doctor  has  to  plod  through  incalculable 
masses  of  dreary  details,  without  the  stimulant  of  intel- 
lectual interest.  With  the  bulk  of  mankind  dull 
drudgery  is  to  be  their  lot  during  the  greater  part  of 
their  lives — hence  since  it  has  to  come,  the  preparation 
for  it  should  come  too.  And  if  so,^QUght  it  not  to 
come  early  ?  The  answer  is  easy,  (if  hard  dull  labour 
must  come  upon  us,  it  must  cojme  ;  but  that  is  no 
reason  for  introducing  it  too  soon^y 

Let  us  look  at  the  real  nature  of  the  process.  -^  A 
child  must  be  induced  to  learn  either  by  fear  or  by  curi- 
osity ;  we  may  awaken  its  intellect,  or  we  may  make  it 
feel  the  dangers  of  idleness.  The  great  obstacle  to 
education  is  the  simple  dislike  to  all  intellectual  activity, 
An  average  lad  resents  any  attempt  to  make  him  exert 
his  intellect.  If  he  is  forced  to  learn  some  new  lesson, 


ofi  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

and  has  his  choice  to  learn  it  by  rote,  or  made  intelli- 
gible, ten  to  one  but  he  will  choose  the  mechanical 
method.  Lads  will  learn  if  made  to,  but  will  not 
think  if  they  can  avoid  it.  You  can  force  them  to  the 
brink;  you  cannot  make  them  drink.  Now  the  old 
method  was  powerless  to  deal  with  this  state  of  things. 
The  first  requirement  is  to  get  some  sort  of  intellectua1 
interest,  and  the  only  plan  is  to  get  the  child  to  dis- 
cover by  your  method  that  there  is  real  pleasure  to  be 
got  out  of  intellectual  exercises.  Every  child  finds 
pleasure  in  exercising  his  faculties  on  right  objects. 
By  right  method  this  spark  may  be  fanned  into  a  flame, 
and  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  this  should  be 
done  early.  There  is  no  risk  that  the  notion  of  play 
will  be  thus  associated  with  school  work,  for  from  the 
outset  work  will  have  to  be  encountered  that  cannot  be 
deemed  too  easy.  Allure  then  by  right  method  every 
child  into  paths  of  study,  and  do  what  you  can  to  help 
him  on,  over  bhe  ruggednesses  that  he  must  encounter, 
but  never  fear  that  he  will  not  meet  ere  long  the 
drudgery  that  is  to  fit  him  for  the  battle  of  life.  The 
more  he  learns,  the  more  drudgery  he  will  have  to 
undergo.  Climbing  mountains  must  always  be  hard 
work,  if  you  climb  far  enough  and  fast  enough,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  hill  of  knowledge.  You  have 
no  need  to  put  burdens  on  the  back,  nor  to  drive  up 
the  steepest  ascents ;  there  will  be  labour  enough  though 
the  paths  are  zigzag,  and  the  resting-places  many." 

The  subjects  of  instruction  need  not  detain  us  long. 

He  has  left  little  on  the  method  of  teaching  to  read. 

/He  is  of  the  same  mind  as  Milton,  and  would  provide 

^pleasant  books,  as  "  ^Esop's  Fables,"  and  would  have 


JOHN   LOCKE.  37 

them  illustrated,  because  the  child  finds  it  difficult  to 
realize  the  things  mentioned,  and  pictures  and  objects 
convey  ideas,  and  give  the  means  of  understanding  the 
book.  To  add  to  its  educative  power,  the  child  should 
be  encouraged  and  required  to  tell  what  it  has  rea<?  , 

His  method  of  penmanship  is  usually  described  as  a 
method  of  tracing,  and  this  doubtless  is  its  charac- 
teristic feature.  But  he  had  a  better  appreciation  of 
what  is  necessary  to  form  a  good  penman  than  merely 
to  teach  the  right  formation  of  letters.  "  When  the 
child  comes  to  be  entered  on  writing  he  should  not  be 
taught  to  hold  his  pen  and  shape  his  letters  all  at  once, 
but  the  former  part  of  the  action  should  be  perfected 
first.  This  done,  the  way  to  teach  him  to  write  with- 
out much  trouble  is  to  get  a  plate  graven  with  the 
characters  of  such  a  hand  as  you  like  best.  But  you 
must  remember  to  have  them  a  pretty  deal  bigger  than 
he  should  ordinarily  write;  for  every  one  naturally 
comes  by  degrees  to  write  a  less  hand  than  he  at  first 
was  taught,  but  never  a  bigger.  Such  a  plate  being 
graved  let  several  sheets  of  paper  be  printed  off  with 
red  ink,  which  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  go  over  with 
a  good  pen  filled  with  black  ink,  which  will  quickly 
bring  his  hand  to  the  formation  of  those  characters, 
being  at  first  shown  where  to  begin  and  how  to  form 
every  letter.  And  when  he  can  do  that  well,  he  must 
exercise  on  fair  paper ;  and  so  he  may  easily  be  brought 
to  write  the  hand  you  desire."  Here  we  find  tha£\ 
Locke  would  have  one  thing  mastered  at  a  time,  and  [ 
each  in  its  right  place.  The  management  of  the  pen  I 
first,  the  right  formation  of  letters  next,  then  freedom  ) 
and  character.  He  would  also  have  the  pupil  instructed 


38  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

BO  that  his  imitation  might  be  intelligent.  And  he 
would  only  have  mechanical  aids  so  long  as  they  were 
necessary  to  acquire  form. 

Grammar  and  composition  should  go  together.     He 

^does  not  notice  the  disciplinary  power  of  the  former, 
but  simply  regards  it  in  relation  to  correct  speech.  He 
rightly  attaches  little  influence  to  a  mere  knowledge  of 
its  rules.  Correct  speaking  is  a  matter  of  practice, 
association,  and  habit.  Hence  the  importance  of  com- 

-  position.  This  should  first  be  oral.  The  pupil  should 
read  a  tale,  and  then  tell  it.  The  next  step  is  to  write. 
This  also  after  reading.  The  composition  should  be 
clear,  succinct,  and  methodical.  Then  should  come  the 
writing  of  letters. 

He  would  have  French  early,  because  it  is  taught 

'  conversationally,  and  the  organs  being  pliant,  he  gets 
the  habit  of  speaking  it  properly,  which  the  longer  it  is 
delayed,  the  harder  it  is  to  be  done.  Latin  he  thinks 
is  not  needed  by  a  tradesman.  It  is  a  waste  of  time  to 
spend  it  first  on  the  grammar.  It  is  utterly  impossible 
to  understand  the  grammar  of  a  language  that  is  un- 
known. Hence  the  langtiage  should  be  acquired  before 
the  grammar  is  touched.  This  should  be  done  by  con- 
versation and  by  interlinear  translation. 

Section  V. —  Vicesimus  Knox. 

Vicesimus  Knox,  master  of  Tunbridge  school,  was 
born  in  London  in  1752.  At  the  age  of  twenty-nine 
he  published  his  book  on  "  Liberal  Education."  It 
passed  through  numeious  editions,  and  was  held  in 
much  esteem  by  schoolmasters  of  his  own  class.  It 
was  a  protest  against  innovations,  and  an  exposition  and 


VICESIMUS   KNOX.  39 

defence  of  established  practices.  "  Hitherto  there  had 
been  many  books  on  education,  but  as  they  were  the 
•works  of  speculative  writers,  they  contained  few  valu- 
able directions  to  the  practical  instructor.  They  were 
full  of  innovations,  where  innovation  should  ever 
be  regarded  with  suspicion.  He  was  a  practical  man. 
His  whole  life  had  been  spent  in  school  as  a  learner,  in 
college  as  a  student,  and  again  in  school  as  a  master  ; 
hence  he  could  speak  from  experience."  He  regrets  the 
influence  of  Milton,  Locke,  and  other  speculative  per-  ^/ 
sons.  To  them  was  due  the  fact  that  many  Adventure 
schools  and  academies  had  sprung  up  which  had  made 
a  wide  departure  from  the  ancient  system  of  education. 

His  chief  contention  is  in  favour  of  classical  learning, 
as  opposed  to  physical,  philosophical,  and  mathematical 
studies.  Classical  learning  produces  enlargement,  re- 
finement, and  embellishment  of  the  mind.  It  qualifies 
for  any  particular  profession  or  occupation.  It  is  the 
best  preparation  for  any  employment  above  the  low  and 
mechanical.  It  opens  sources  of  pleasure  unknown  to 
the  vulgar.  It  gives  an  elevation  of  .sentiment  and 
nobility  of  nature.  It  only  makes  the  true  gentleman. 
He  insinuates  that  those  who  oppose  it  are  simply 
acting  like  the  fox  in  the  fable.  He  compares  one  with 
such  training  to  a  precious  stone  shining  with  its  own 
lustre,  while  those  without  it  have  simply  paint  and 
garnish. 

When  you  ask  how  these  advantages  are  secured  by 
classical  training,  you  find  the  reply  uncertain.  There 
is  confusion  of  thought.  He  speaks  of  them  as  due  to 
the  well-regulated  study  of  philosophy,  poetry,  and 
history,  found  in  classical  authors.  But  this  study,  he 


40  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

says,  is  impracticable  up  to  the  age  of  nineteen,  for  all 
the  attention  is  required  by  the  languages,  and  is  given 
to  them.  Yet  all  through  his  book  he  seems  to  transfer 
the  advantages  derived  from  the  study  of  classical 
authors  to  the  mode  of  learning  the  languages.  And 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  this  that  he  has  in  view 
when  contending  for  classical  instruction  as  the  sole 
basis  of  mental  discipline.  He  makes  also  important 
admissions.  The  time  to  be  given  to  it  must  neces- 
sarily exclude  from  this  course  and  its  advantages  all 
but  the  very  few.  He  also  admits  that  many  have  not 
realized  the  advantages,  either  because  they  lacked  the 
parts,  or  were  not  sufficiently  diligent,  or  were  taken 
away  too  soon.  But  while  he  makes  this  admission  he 
does  not  see  its  force.  Few  get  the  culture  ;  where  one 
succeeds,  thousands  fail.  But  the  question  in  education 
is  not  what  is  the  best  for  the  gifted,  even  allowing  this 
to  be  the  best,  but  what  is  best  for  the  many  1  He  gives 
elsewhere  an  admirable  illustration  of  his  contention 
that  such  discipline  fits  for  every  employment,  by  saying 
that  teaching  to  read  must  be  irksome  to  a  man  of  cul- 
ture, and  consequently  must  be  ill  performed  ! 

There  may  be  gathered  from  his  book  that  certain 
principles  should  regulate  school  work.  It  is  the  func- 
tion of  the  school  to  prepare  the  mind  for  the  future. 
This  is  to  be  done  by  opening  out  avenues  of  research 
and  culture,  but  chiefly  by  strengthening  its  powers.  A 
prime  aim  should  be  to  give  it  vigour.  It  is  necessary 
to  hold  this  position.  Masters  are  censured  for  not 
suiting  their  instruction  to  the  bias  of  the  scholar. 
They  use  the  same  material  for  all.  This  complaint  is 
in  ignorance, — masters  cannot  do  it.  The  school  has  a 


VICESIMUS   KNOX.  41 

regular  plan  of  study,  which,  it  is  impossible  to  vary 
for  individuals.  It  is  also  a  misconception.  School 
has  to  give  a  general  preparation,  a  discipline  of  the 
whole  mind,  not  a  special  culture  of  dominant  faculties. 
As  a  tradesman  does  not  consider  of  every  shilling 
gained  its  purchasing  power,  but  adds  it  to  the  general 
stock  ;  so  a  master  has  to  consider  the  general  power 
of  the  pupil,  and  not  the  special  advantage  of  a  par- 
ticular course.  Hence  it  would  be  a  mistake.  For  if 
any  faculties  are  really  strong  they  may  be  hopefully 
left,  and  the  weak  ones  strengthened  ;  or  the  individual 
will  be  narrow-minded,  dwarfed,  and  contracted.  It  is 
often  impossible.  Natural  bias  seldom  shows  itself  in 
the  school  period.  Mental  tastes  display  themselves  at 
different  periods  according  to  the  varying  constitutions. 
Often  the  nobler  faculties,  and  those  that  give  direction 
to  the  life,  put  in  a  late  appearance.  It  should  be 
deemed  essential  that  all  qualify  themselves  with  habits 
of  constancy,  vigilance,  and  industry.  Of  none  should 
there  be  despair  except  idiots.  The  difference  between 
these  opinions  and  those  of  Locke  is  rather  apparent 
than  real.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  contrariety.  Knox 
refers  to  faculties  of  intelligence,  while  Locke  deals  with 
the  emotional  nature,  and  here  it  is  certainly  true — 

"  The  child  is  father  to  the  man." 

The  scholar  must  be  accustomed  to  hard  labour,  and 
any  method  that  proposes  to  make  the  road  to  learning 
easy  must  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  In  early  lessons 
the  agreeable  may  be  united  with  the  useful,  but  the 
learner  must  not  be  cheated  to  his  task  by  the  notion 
that  it  is  a  game.  He  must  early  meet  the  fact  that 


42  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

nothing  valuable  is  to  be  obtained  without  labour.  The 
mind  is  naturally  indolent,  averse  from  unnecessary  toil, 
and  rejoices  in  means  that  more  easily  accomplish  its 
end.  This  is  particularly  true  in  the  season  when 
school  education  begins.  But  in  education  nothing  is 
valuable  without  labour.  No  high  point  of  excellence 
is  ever  attained  without  arduous  and  persevering  toil. 
That  which  requires  great  effort  to  gain  will  not  be 
soon  lost,  for  the  impression  it  makes  is  deep.  On  the 
other  hand,  things  easily  obtained  are  readily  lost,  like 
money  acquired  at  an  easy  rate.  Ideas  collected  with- 
out effort  make  very  faint  impression.  Hence  it  is  no 
valid  objection  to  a  method  that  it  requires  effort,  for 
la  hour  strengthens  the  mind,  increases  its  native  vigour, 
and  is  favourable  to  the  permanence  of  its  acquisitions. 
But  a  method  that  proposes  to  lessen  the  labour  must 
not  \-e  lightly  adopted,  for  generally,  as  you  lessen  the 
toil  you  decrease  its  value. 

These  views  do  not  sufficiently  discriminate  betwixt 
the  periods  of  culture.  In  relation  to  the  later  stages 
of  school  work  they  may  be  regarded  as  sound,  but 
during  all  the  earlier  stages,  when  the  mind  of  the 
pupil  is  in  direct  contact  with  that  of  the  master,  and 
when  its  efforts  are  elicited,  guided,  and  strengthened  by 
such  contact,  all  that  can  be  done  by  good  method  to 
remove  difficulties,  or  to  enable  the  pupil  to  overcome 
them,  should  be  done.  Procedure  by  a  good  method 
is  simply  working  according  to  mental  laws,  and  surely 
it  is  better  that  the  pupil  shall  be  rightly  directed  and 
aided,  than  that  he  should  be  left  without  rudder,  chart, 
or  compass,  in  a  sea  of  troubles.  And  let  it  not  be  sup- 
posed that  any  such  aid  will  make  his  path  too  easy. 


VICESIMUS   KNOX.  43 

From  its  very  nature  there  will  remain  not  only  enough 
of  irksome  drudgery,  but  of  matter  that  will  require 
all  his  intelligence  and  power. 

There  should  be  right  culture  of  memory.  It  is 
strong  in  young  children,  and  things  may  by  them  be 
acquired  with  ease  which  would  be  an  intolerable 
drudgery  at  a  later  time.  Latin  grammar,  and  other 
things  that  they  cannot  understand,  should  be  exacted 
from  them.  For  if  these  are  not  learnt  early  they  will 
never  be  thoroughly  acquired.  Knox  does  not  see  that 
such  a  practice  must  place  obstacles  in  the  learner's 
path  ;  that  it  entails  losses  which  are  not  covered  by  the 
gain.  Such  verbal  use  of  the  memory  forms  the  habit  of 
doing  things  without  intelligent  attention,  than  which 
nothing  could  be  a  greater  hindrance  to  intellectual 
growth.  In  many  cases  it  effectually  bars  all  real 
progress,  and  where  it  does  not  it  makes  it  greatly 
more  difficult  to  acquire  the  power  of  intelligent  appli- 
cation. 

No  faculty  of  the  mind  being  more  capable  of  im- 
provement in  youth,  and  none  more  in  danger  of  de- 
cay by  disease,  care  should  be  taken  to  store  it  well.  If 
it  is  not  filled  with  valuable  furniture  it  will  be  crowded 
with  lumber.  It  should  be  filled  with  choice  pieces. 
Beautiful  passages  should  be  studiously  committed  to 
memory,  or  they  will  leave  no  more  trace  than  the 
shadow  of  the  summer  cloud  does  on  the  landscape. 
Such  passages  should  first  be  construed,  then  learnt  by 
heart.  Habit  will  render  it  easy.  But  the  culture  of 
the  memory  must  be  judicious.  It  is  not  the  chief 
object  in  education.  It  is  not  to  be  loaded  with  unim- 
portant minutiaB.  It  is  of  more  importance  to  re- 


44  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

member  an  eloquent  passage  than  its  place  on  the  page. 
It  is  more  important  to  get  the  kernel  than  to  retain 
the  husk.  Whatever  the  mind  receives,  it  should  not 
only  reproduce,  but  give  it  back  altered,  improved,  and 
refined.  "  A  good  memory,"  says  Erasmus,  "  is  like  a 
net  that  catches  the  great  fishes,  but  lets  the  little  ones 
escape." 

The  only  infallible  way  of  improving  the  memory  is 
frequent,  regular,  well-directed  exercise.  "  The  one 
great  secret,"  says  Quintiliau,  "  for  the  improvement  of 
memory  is  exercise,  practice,  labour.  Nothing  is  so 
much  improved  by  care,  or  falls  to  decay  by  neglect." 
It  must  also  be  trusted.  Like  a  generous  friend  it  will 
repay  habitual  confidence  with  fidelity.  It  is  not 
benefited  by  the  practice  of  writing  things  to  be  re- 
membered. Quintilian  tells  us  that  to  put  things  in 
writing  is  the  surest  way  to  lose  them,  for  we  cease 
to  guard  them ;  and  Plato  says  that  the  best  way  to 
keep  them  in  memory  is  not  to  put  them  in  writing. 

The  subjects  taught  in  school  should  not  be  too 
numerous.  Art  is  long,  life  is  short.  Having  many 
subjects,  children  come  to  be  talkers  in  all,  masters  in 
none.  Early  discipline  will  mould  the  future.  In- 
struction cannot  commence  too  early,  the  time  must  be 
determined  by  the  display  of  capacity,  but  as  early  as 
possible,  for  earliest  impressions  are  durable,  and  time 
is  saved.  Knox  thinks  that  little  need  to  be  feared 
as  regards  the  health.  The  instruction  should  be  judi- 
ciously conducted,  and  then  the  spirits  and  activity  of 
children  will  supply  the  antidote  to  any  otherwise 
injurious  strain. 

Children  should  early  learn  to  read.     There  is  no 


VICESIMUS   KNOX.  45 

reason  why  it  should  not  be  attained  by  five  or  six,  or  at 
furthest  seven.  The  longer  it  is  delayed,  the  more  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  acquire.  Early  inferiority  in  this  is  a  bar 
to  subsequent  proficiency,  while  it  is  a  fact  that  early 
readers  make  the  best  progress.  For  this  acquisition 
the  nursery  is  the  place,  and  the  teacher  the  mother. 
Thus  the  child  may  not  have  anything  to  unlearn.  In 
teaching  the  alphabet  he  would  have  a  plain  card. 
One  with  cuts  diverts  the  attention  from  the  less 
interesting  sign  to  the  more  amusing  picture.  Yet  as 
it  is  a  sufficiently  irksome  thing,  he  should  be  diawn 
on  by  interesting  books,  the  understanding  of  which 
should  be  aided  by  pictures.  But  reading  must  not  be 
the  only  source  of  knowledge  to  the  infant,  it  is  only 
one  of  several  ways,  and  it  is  necessary  there  should  be 
variety.  It  is  essential,  too,  that  the  tasks  should  be 
short, — a  little  and  with  ease.  The  value  is  not  in  the 
gain  from  one  lesson,  but  in  the  habit,  the  constant 
growth,  and  the  accumulation  of  power. 

Latin  should  be  the  basis  of  school  discipline.  The 
grammar  should  first  be  acquired.  This  knowledge  is 
like  the  broad  foundations  of  a  building,  hidden  indeed, 
but  necessary  to  the  stability  of  the  superstructure. 
But  Knox  abandons  the  early  mode,  and  advocates  a 
compromise  betwixt  it  and  the  principle  advocated  by 
Locke.  To  that  principle  he  gives  his  unconscious 
adhesion.  Let  the  grammar  be  the  first  course  for  six 
months,  then  let  the  learner  parse  and  construe  an 
easy  Latin  author.  The  knowledge  thus  acquired  gives 
a  better  hold  of  the  grammar.  "With  the  same  purpose 
let  all  the  rules  be  learnt  in  English  as  well  as  in 
Latin.  And  in  first  going  over  the  grammar  neglect 


4(5  SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION. 

its  minutiae,  as  the  science  of  language  is  not  the  object, 
but  the  attainment  of  a  language.  This  compromise 
between  a  valuable  principle  and  an  absurd  practice  is 
significant  both  of  the  force  of  truth  and  the  tenacity 
of  prejudice.  That  no  one  can  study  the  grammar  of 
a  language  he  does  not  understand  seems  a  self-evident 
proposition,  and  would  recommend  itself,  one  would 
think,  to  all  but  those  who  consult  their  own  ease  as 
masters  of  schools  rather  than  teachers  in  them.  That 
Knox  advocated  as  far  as  he  did  the  preposterous  prac- 
tice of  learning  the  grammar  first,  and  then  applying 
what  was  not  understood  to  the  parsing  and  construing 
of  a  book,  seems  to  have  come  from  that  obliquity  of 
vision  which  is  produced  by  the  prejudice  of  early 
custom.  This  compromise  was  the  first  step  towards 
the  system  represented  by  the  books  of  Peithman, 
Bryce,  and  Smith. 

Of  other  languages  he  recommends  Greek  and 
French.  They  are  to  be  pursued  by  similar  methods, 
but  not  at  so  early  an  age.  He  assigns  as  a  reason  for 
not  beginning  French  early,  that  time  is  required  to 
mature  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body.  But  surely  this 
objection  has  stronger  force  against  the  early  learning  of 
Latin.  He  thinks  that  if  the  learner  knows  Latin,  he 
need  not  begin  with  French  grammar,  but  with  an 
easy  interesting  book.  Then  the  labour  is  alleviated ; 
but  if  confined  to  the  grammar  he  hates  the  irksome  toil. 
He  prefers  learning  to  read  French  rather  than  to  speak 
it,  unless  there  is  the  opportunity  to  reside  in  France. 

Other  subjects  should  fill  up  gaps.  English  should 
be  acquired  through  good  authors.  Its  grammar  may 
be  delayed  with  advantage  till  the  learner  has  intel- 


VICESIMdS   KNOX.  47 

le«;tual  strength.  A  paper  from  the  Spectator  should 
be  taken,  and  treated  by  parsing  and  analysis,  as  a 
l^atin  author  would  be.  Aid  should  be  had  from  com- 
position. At  first  JEsop,  then  history,  Plutarch,  and 
the  Speciator  should  be  read,  and  themes  written  on 
what  had  been  thus  prepared.  Plagiarism  should  be 
discouraged.  It  may  be  prevented  by  avoiding  cap- 
tious criticism  and  fault-finding,  and  by  not  punishing 
egregious  mistakes.  If  the  boy  sees  that  his  own 
composition  is  found  fault  with,  while  plagiarism  es- 
capes, he  will  escape  from  the  trouble  of  invention. 
Geography  should  not  be  learnt  by  rote.  The  first 
strokes  that  form  the  sketch  of  a  picture  cannot  be 
pencilled  too  truthfully.  In  geography  every  idea 
should  be  presented  clearly  to  the  apprehension.  The 
study  should  be  begun  early,  but  without  books.  Maps 
should  be  the  only  aids.  These  should  not  be  too 
crowded,  and  should  be  very  distinct.  They  should 
be  explained,  and  they  should  be  made  familiar.  They 
should  be  at  hand  for  reference  in  other  lessons.  Map- 
drawing  is  a  waste  of  time.  History  should  be  read  at 
home  as  a  recreation,  not  enter  into  the  curriculum  of  the 
school.  Euclid,  astronomy,  and  physics  belong  to  the 
university.  Drawing  should  be  taught  only  to  such 
as  are  likely  to  excel  in  it.  He  who  gives  attention  to 
arithmetic  contracts  a  degree  of  rust  totally  destructive 
of  genius.  But  Knox  allows  that  as  a  science  it  fur- 
nishes a  fine  exercise  for  the  mind. 

We  gather  incidentally  that  Knox  would  have  eight 
classes  or  forms,  a  half-yearly  examination  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  proficient,  and  place-taking  during 
She  daily  lessons  as  a  spur  to  emulation. 


48  StfSTUMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   COMMON   SCHOOL. 

THE  progress  made  in  school  education  in  this 
country  during  the  present  century  has  been  very 
much  promoted  by  the  writings  and  labours  of  two 
men,  very  dissimilar  in  many  respects, — Richard  Lovell 
Edgeworth,  born  at  Bath  in  1744;  and  Henry  Pes- 
talozzi,  born  at  Zurich,  January  12th,  1746.  Their 
plans  of  education  have  the  same  starting-point,  and 
their  views  coincide  in  many  particulars.  But  the 
former  not  only  placed  his  own  aims  clearly  before  his 
mind,  but  was  skilful  in  carrying  them  out  in  his 
practice ;  while  Pestalozzi  was  more  ingenious  in  stating 
and  illustrating  principles  than  apt  in  working  them. 

Section  I. — The  Edgewortlis. 

The  work  on  "  Practical  Education  "  was  the  joint 
production  of  Edgeworth  and  of  his  celebrated  daughter, 
Maria.  It  first  appeared  in  1798.  It  describes  the 
practices  of  the  former  in  the  education  of  his  own 
family,  and  states  the  principles  by  which  education 
should  be  conducted.  The  first  chapter  is  on  toys,  and 
anticipates  the  kindergarten  system.  Toys  that  may 
be  handled,  and  whose  powers  of  amusing  and  profitably 
employing  will  not  soon  be  lost,  should  be  provided — 
as  pieces  of  wood  of  various  shapes  and  sizes,  squares, 
circular  bits,  cubes,  balls,  and  triangles.  These  will 
call  forth  observation,  make  them  acquainted  with  the 
properties  of  objects,  and  stimulate  invention,  for  the 
child  will  build  up  and  pull  down,  and  put  into  a 


THE   EDGEWORTHS.  49 

variety  of  forms  and  positions.  The  point  here  is  to 
leave  the  child,  and  not  by  rash  interference  to  break 
the  charm  and  destroy  the  utility,  for  the  advantage  is 
in  the  child  doing,  not  in  being  told  how  to  do. 
"  Every  bit  of  wood,"  says  Richter,  "  is  a  gilded  flower- 
rod  to  the  child,  on  which  fancy  can  bud  hundred- 
leaved  roses.  In  the  eyes  of  wonder-working  fancy 
every  Aaron's  rod  blossoms."  Pictures  may  be  early 
introduced.  They  engage  attention  and  employ  imagin- 
ation. They  bring  back  former  ideas,  and  lead  to 
comparisons  between  these  and  what  they  see  in  prints  ; 
they  thus  elicit  judgments.  That  they  may  produce 
the  best  results  in  early  infancy  they  must  correspond 
to  the  experience  of  the  child.  Prints  of  a  thing  out 
of  its  sphere,  or  representing  things  as  he  is  not  accus- 
tomed to  see  them,  seldom  attract  the  attention  or 
stimulate  the  fancy  of  a  five-year-old  child ;  but 
truthful  representations,  agreeing  with  facts  he  may 
have  observed,  will  set  his  imagination  working. 
"The  wind  blows  that  woman's  gown  back,"  was  the 
suggestion  of  such  a  print  to  a  four-year  old  child. 
After  having  been  accustomed  to  examine  prints,  and 
to  trace  their  resemblance  to  real  objects,  children  will 
probably  wish  to  try  their  own  powers  of  imitation. 
At  this  moment  place  in  their  hands  a  pencil,  and  let 
them  make  random  marks  all  over  a  sheet  of  paper. 
No  matter  how  rude  their  first  attempts  at  imitation 
may  be ;  if  the  attention  is  occupied,  the  point  is 
gained.  Girls  have  an  advantage  over  boys  in  the 
exclusive  possession  of  scissors,  and  are  pleasurably 
and  profitably  occupied  in  cutting  out  wonderful 
camels,  elephants,  and  other  things.  When  the  period 


50  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

comes,  in  which  the  child  wants  more  active  employ- 
ment to  his  mind  and  fingers,  he  must  be  furnished 
with  that  which  will  give  him  the  opportunity  of 
thought  and  invention.  It  will  be  profitable  now  to 
introduce  modelling  in  clay  and  wax,  making  baskets, 
and  weaving  tapes.  Then  as  skill  grows,  and  a  greater 
demand  is  made  on  his  inventive  powers,  there  may  be 
supplied  to  him  cards,  pasteboard,  scissors,  wire,  gum, 
and  wax,  that  he  may  fashion,  model,  construct,  and 
build.  In  all  this  course  the  purpose  is  to  secure 
observation,  to  stimulate  invention,  to  foster  fancy,  and 
to  cultivate  practical  judgment.  The  one  great  rule  is 
to  teach  the  child  to  work  out  the  things  in  its  own 
mind,  and  not  to  crush  in  the  bud  its  nascent  faculties 
by  hasty  interference.  Help  may  be  given,  but  it 
must  be  judiciously  timed,  and  it  must  be  of  a  kind  to 
stimulate  originality,  and  not  make  them  mere  copyists. 
Thus  the  elements  of  a  scientific  character  are  laid. 
The  child  learns  the  properties  of  things ;  he  becomes 
curious  to  know  how  certain  effects  are  produced,  de- 
stroying the  toy  in  the  prosecution  of  the  philosophical 
inquiry ;  he  inquires,  combines,  and  invents.  Such  a 
child  shows  the  effect  of  his  training  by  asking,  among 
many  similar  inquiries,  "  How  is  it  that  my  hoop  keeps 
up  so  long  as  it  rolls,  but  falls  as  soon  as  it  stops  ?  " 

The  same  principle  that  has  guided  the  development 
of  the  mind  should  be  followed  in  first  learning.  It  is 
not  verbal  memory,  but  intelligence  that  should  be 
cultivated.  There  must  not  be  disagreeable  associations 
with  learning.  It  need  not  be  treated  as  a  game ;  but  it 
should  be  made  interesting  by  employing  his  faculties. 
Learning  to  read  early  is  not  a  matter  of  such  moment 


THE   EDGEWORTHS.  51 

as  some  seem  to  think,  for  the  use  made  of  it  is  the 
important  point ;  and  if  it  should  be  so  learnt  as  to  dis- 
gust, and  then  be  never  used,  where  is  the  advantage  of 
having  learnt  early  ? 

The  common  method  of  teaching  the  alphabet  is 
dreadful.  The  names  of  the  letters  and  the  variety  of 
their  sounds  disturb  the  common  sense  of  the  child, 
and  at  every  step  stop  his  progress.  He  learns  one 
thing  in  one  lesson,  and  he  finds  it  contradicted  in  the 
next.  Having  learnt  u  in  "  fume,"  he  pronounces  it  the 
same  way  in  "fun,"  and  is  blamed  ;  he  meets  it  again  in 
"  busy,"  and  is  again  at  fault ;  at  "burial"  he  gives  up  in 
despair, in  "prudence"  he  becomes  reckless,  and  he  stops 
at  the  stage  of  "  dunce. "  In  the  reading  lesson  he  is  told 
to  spell  words  by  their  names,  but  having  done  so 
through  "  Here  is  some  apple  pie,"  he  finds  that  he 
cannot  decipher  for  himself  these  simple  words. 

A  better  method  is  needed.  Do  not  be  in  a  hurry, 
let  a  few  things  be  learnt  at  a  time.  It  does  not  matter 
whether  it  takes  six  weeks  or  six  months,  so  that  it  is 
done  well,  and  without  confusion  to  the  learner.  Take 
the  vowels  first,  distinguish  their  several  sounds  by 
points.  For  instance,  let  a  represent  the  sound  in 
fame ;  a  in  fat ;  a  in  fall ;  a  in  far.  When  the  vowel 
sounds  and  their  signs  are  acquired,  take  the  consonants, 
but  do  not  give  their  names  till  the  child  has  acquired 
their  powers.  This  must  be  by  analysis  and  induction. 
Place  b  and  the  other  consonants  before  a,  a,  a,  a,  e,  e, 
e,  e,  and  so  on ;  let  these  syllables  be  pronounced,  and 
let  the  learner  from  such  practice  get  the  powers  of  the 
consonants.  When  they  have  thus  learnt  the  letters 


52  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

and  their  powers  let  them  read.  In  the  books  put  the 
marks  indicating  the  various  sounds,  and  others  indi- 
cating the  silent  letters. 

This  is  a  better  plan  of  teaching  the  elements  of 
reading,  than  the  one  it  was  intended  to  supersede. 
But  it  is  needlessly  complicated.  It  has  the  fault  of 
all  the  earlier  teaching,  loading  the  memory  with  a 
large  number  of  rules  before  supplying  practice.  Nor 
does  it  sufficiently  recognise  the  truth  underlying  itself, 
that  a  child  obtains  the  powers  of  the  letters  by  an 
induction  from  its  own  practice — not  a  conscious  induc- 
tion, but  one  that  forms  itself  into  its  habits.  Hence 
a  plan  that  would  secure  a  greater  amount  of  reading, 
and  one  that  would  gradually  introduce  the  varying 
vowel  powers,  would  sooner  effect  the  object.  This  is 
now  attempted  in  several  first  reading  books.  Langler, 
of  the  Westminster  Training  College,  was  the  first  to 
Introduce  it.  First  we  have  a  set  of  lessons  in  which 
the  vowels  and  consonants  have  a  constancy  of  power, 
as  in  bat,  fat,  mat ;  bet,  met,  pet ;  bit,  fit,  pit :  then  we 
have  a  set  introducing  another  sound,  as  in  mate,  mete, 
mite,  where  the  opportunity  occurs  of  pointing  out 
the  significance  of  the  final  e.  In  this  way  the  child 
gradually  acquaints  himself  with  the  powers  of  the 
letters,  and  he  approaches  the  anomalies  without  per- 
plexity. The  "  Phonic.  Method,"  as  Edge  worth's  plan 
came  to  be  called,  degenerated  into  an  attempt  to  give 
the  powers  of  the  consonants  by  themselves,  and  to 
build  up  words  by  the  process  bu-a-te,  bat.  An  in-, 
stance  this,  not  unfrequent  in  schools,  of  a  good  prin- 
ciple becoming  the  ground  of  an  absurd  practice, 
because  carried  out  by  parties  who  had  no  special 


T1IK   EDGEVVORTHS.  53 

training  for  their  work,  and  who  had  not  taken  the 
trouble,  if  they  had  the  power,  to  master  the  principle. 

Spelling  should  follow  reading.  He  seems  here  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  teaching  to  read  by  spelling, 
either  name  or  phonic.  He  objects  to  spelling-books. 
They  bring  new  perils  to  the  understanding,  and  they 
disgust  children  with  literature  by  the  pain  and  diffi- 
culty of  their  first  lessons.  A  bettor  way  is  to  use  the 
words  they  know,  and  those  which  occur  most  frequently 
in  reading  and  conversation.  Of  these  a  few  should 
be  taken  at  a  time,  on  the  maxim  "  a  little  and  well." 
Let  the  children  see  that  spelling  is  necessary  in 
writing.  Let  them  write  a  few  words  of  their  own 
daily,  and  others  that  they  have  been  reading.  When 
they  see  its  use  and  feel  its  need,  then  they  will  learn 
with  ease  and  precision.  Spelling  should  not  be  taught 
before  they  can  write.  The  mistakes  they  make  in 
writing  must  be  pointed  out,  and  must  be  carefully 
corrected  by  the  learner.  This  is  necessary,  as  bad 
habits  once  formed  cannot  be  cured,  because  the  under- 
standing has  nothing  to  do  with  the  business.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  spelling  is  learnt  by  the  eye,  hence 
the  more  they  read  and  write,  the  greater  their  progress 
will  be  in  spelling  correctly. 

Arithmetic  should  be  taught  as  soon  as  the  child  can 
read.  This  recommendation  comes  from  Edgeworth's 
unwillingness  to  burden  the  child  with  too  many  sub- 
jects. But  there  is  no  danger  to  the  child  in  taking 
arithmetic  as  a  parallel  exercise  with  reading  and 
writing.  The  faculties  it  brings  into  play  are  so  distinct 
that  relief  and  benefit  follow  rather  than  injury. 
Besides,  it  is  well  to  accustom  the  learner  early  to  seek 


54  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

relief  in  change  rather  than  in  cessation  of  work.  His 
next  recommendation  shows  how  truly  he  was  at  one 
with  Locke  and  Pestalozzi  in  the  principles  that  should 
regulate  first  instruction.  Early  lessons  in  arithmetic 
should  he  conducted  on  the  same  principles  as  have 
hitherto  guided  us.  Infancy  is  the  season  for  culti- 
vating the  senses,  and  here  we  find  one  of  the  reasons  for 
proceeding  in  this  subject  from  the  concrete  to  the 
abstract.  This,  too,  should  be  the  case  not  only  in  the 
earlier  operations,  but  in  every  subsequent  stage.  The 
intelligence  of  the  child  must  go  along  with  every  pro- 
cess, its  understanding  must  be  preserved  from  implicit 
belief,  its  powers  must  be  invigorated,  and  it  must  be 
saved  from  merely  technical  working. 

The  first  thing  is  to  combine  numbers  with  real 
objects.  The  names  of  numbers  must  be  connected  in 
the  mind  with  the  groups  they  represent.  He  should 
learn  these  groups  as  two  cubes,  three  cubes,  and  so  on. 
He  should  see  that  three  cubes  are  the  same  thing  as 
two  cubes  and  one  cube.  When  he  is  able  to  distin- 
guish each  group  and  name  it,  then  he  may  be  taught 
to  know  and  make  the  figure  that  represents  it.  In  this 
and  subsequent  operations  it  is  well  to  use  half-inch 
cubes  or  pebbles,  so  that  the  eye  may  easily  taker  in  the 
group.  The  next  step  is  addition.  This  should  be 
first  by  things,  then  by  figures.  First  he  must  be  kept 
to  numbers  below  ten,  and  the  operation  both  by  things 
and  figures  should  tend  to  make  him  still  more  familiar 
with  the  groups  and  their  names.  The  exercises  might 
be  graduated  in  some  such  way  as  this  : — 


THE   EDGEWORTHS.  55 

1 

1  1      1 

1  11  111  1 

111112111123 
121232123422 

334444555555 

Before  taking  the  next  step  means  should  be  taken 
to  make  i'ainiliar  all  the  possible  combinations  up  to 
nine,  to  add  and  subtract  with  rapidity,  and  to  write 
figures  with  accuracy  and  expedition.  The  process 
should  employ  the  eye,  ear,  and  mind,  so  that  the 
technical  habit  may  be  acquired  without  injury  to  the 
understanding.  These  preliminary  steps,  if  begun  in 
the  child's  fifth  year,  may  occupy  a  few  minutes  daily 
during  half  a  year. 

The  next  step,  numeration,  is  the  most  difficult  in 
early  arithmetic.  It  may  be  prepared  for  by  drawing 
the  child's  attention  to  the  common  way  of  speaking 
of  one  flock,  two  flocks,  one  grove,  two  groves,  when  he 
feels  110  difficulty  in  applying  the  term  one  to  a  group 
containing  many.  In  the  same  way  to  speak  of  one 
dozen,  two  dozens,  may  prepare  for  one  ten,  two  tens. 
Let  dark  pebbles  be  counted,  and  for  each  ten  put  aside 
one  white  pebble,  then  the  white  pebbles  will  each  repre- 
sent ten,  and  when  there  are  ten  of  these,  let  one  red 
pebble  be  put  aside,  and  the  child  may  thus  see  how 
one  may  represent  a  hundred.  By  exercises  like  these 
the  child  may  learn  that  the  terms  one,  two,  three,  and 
so  on,  may  be  indifferently  applied  to  individuals,  tens, 
or  hundreds.  When  this  is  all  clear,  the  child  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  value  ot  written  figures 
by  the  place  they  hold  ;  indeed,  he  may  be  led  to  invent 


56  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

this  arrangement.  Having  acquired  this  knowledge 
and  skill,  an  idea  of  decimal  arithmetic  may  be  given 
to  him,  as  he  will  find  no  difficulty  now  in  understand- 
ing that  the  same  figures  may  represent  tenth  parts  as 
well  as  groups. 

In  subtraction  Edgeworth  recommends  that  the 
methods  employed  shall  grow  out  of  their  previous 
work.  For  instance,  in  taking  forty-six  from  ninety- 
four,  the  child  first  sees  that  the  sum  forty-six  is  to  be 
taken  from  the  larger  sum  ninety -four  ;  then  using  his 
knowledge  of  numeration  and  notation,  he  is  taught  to 
analyze  ninety-four  into  eighty  and  fourteen,  then  to 
take  six  from  fourteen  ;  then  four  tens  or  forty  from 
eight  tens  or  eighty.  He  would  have  the  same  prin- 
ciple followed  in  other  rules.  In  the  rule  of  three,  as 
the  learner  can  already  divide  and  multiply,  instead  of 
the  method  of  statement,  he  should  first  be  told  to  find 
the  value  of  one,  and  then  of  the  required  quantities. 

Methods  like  these  are  usually  spoken  of  as  Pesta- 
lozzian,  and  their  extensive  use  in  common  schools  is 
due  very  much  to  Tate's  "  Principles  of  Arithmetic,"  but 
they  may  all  be  found  in  the  works  of  Ward,  a  full 
century  before  Edgeworth  ;  where  also  may  be  found 
modes  of  teaching  mensuration  on  similar  principles. 

When  we  pass  from  the  period  in  which  the  senses  are 
the  chief  avenues  of  intelligence,  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  understanding,  the  first  object  is  to  give  the  power 
of  attention,  or  in  other  words,  to  interest  the  learners 
iu  what  they  are  about.  The  means  are  now  to  be  con- 
sidered. First  there  must  be  no  false  associations. 
There  should  be  a  right  medium  betwixt  offering  the 
subjects  as  tasks,  repelling  the  learner,  and  exciting  his 


THE   EDGEWOKTUS.  57 

disgust,  and  the  fashion  of  making  learning  a  play, 
cheating  him  into  knowledge,  or  paying  for  its  acquisi- 
tion by  sugar-plums-  This  plan  increases  the  desire  to 
be  amused,  but  lessens  the  relish  for  it.  The  mind 
becomes  passive  and  indolent,  and  an  increasing 
stimulus  is  necessary  to  awaken  effort.  Dissipated 
habits  are  formed,  and  the  pupil  never  gets  command 
of  his  own  powers.  The  pupil  must  understand  that 
knowledge  cannot  be  obtained  without  labour.  He 
must  be  incited  to  work,  and  he  must  be  in  earnest. 
There  must  be  no  deceit  practised  on  him.  There  must 
be  no  illusion.  There  is  no  need  for  any.  It  is  easy 
by  proper  methods  to  interest  him  in  the  subjects  he 
has  to  learn  ;  the  prime  thing  is  to  carry  his  intelligence 
with  you. 

Edgeworth  continually  insists  that  lessons  should 
cover  short  periods,  but  that  the  learner  shall  be  stimu- 
lated to  put  forth  his  utmost  strength  during  that 
period.  A  serious  and  strong  effort  for  half  an  hour 
will  do  more  in  forming  the  habit  of  attention  than  the 
practice  of  assigning  work  that  will  last  for  hours,  and 
where  the  effort  is  necessarily  of  a  dreamy  kind. 
Thorough  acquaintance  with  what  he  is  taught  is 
essential  to  -present  and  future  attention.  The  pupil 
should  be  presented  with  little  at  a  time,  but  it  should 
be  completely  attained.  It  should  become  familiar. 
Few  things  so  disgust  a  child  with  learning  as  imper- 
fect acquaintance  with  it.  Whenever  that  which  he 
has  acquired  is  perfectly  familiar  to  his  mind,  the  pupil 
is  inspired  with  confidence  and  interest.  He  becomes 
conscious  of  power,  and  the  tediousness  of  his  employ- 
ment vanishes.  Those  who  wish  thus  to  succeed  in 


58  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

teaching  must  remember  that  a  child  can  attend  to  but 
one  thing  at  a  time.  Its  attention  must  not  be  fatigued 
by  variety.  It  is  of  more  importance  that  a  child 
should  leave  a  lesson  with  a  relish  for  learning,  and  a 
desire  to  return  to  it,  than  that  it  has  made  much 
progress.  Let  him  find  that  he  has  made  one  thing 
fully  his  own,  and  his  pleasure  will  stimulate  him  in 
other  lessons.  But  while  seeing  that  his  acquisitions 
are  thorough  and  familiar,  the  teacher  must  avoid  the 
mistake  of  doing  more  than  the  child  needs.  When  a 
thing  is  clear,  let  him  not  try  to  make  it  clearer.  When 
a  thing  is  understood,  not  a  word  more  of  exemplifica- 
tion should  be  added.  To  mark  precisely  the  moment 
when  the  pupil  is  master  of  the  subject,  and  when 
repetition  should  cease,  is  the  most  difficult  thing  in 
teaching,  though  the  difficulty  is  in  the  teacher  more 
than  in  the  scholar.  The  former  is  so  absorbed  in  his 
subject  that  he  has  no  attention  to  give  to  the 
unmistakable  signs  of  repletion  given  by  the  pupils. 
Thoroughness  and  familiarity  may  be  promoted  without 
this  weariness,  by  asking  in  other  lessons  the  reproduc- 
tion of  former  teaching. 

In  instruction  it  is  often  found  comparatively  easy 
to  fix  the  attention  on  the  several  points  of  a  lesson, 
where  there  is  utter  failure  in  fixing  it  on  the  connec- 
tion of  the  parts.  None  but  teachers  know  how 
difficult  this  is.  The  dependence  of  one  thing  upon 
another,  and  the  concurrence  of  the  whole  to  some 
definite  conclusion,  altogether  escape  the  scholar.  Yet 
this,  if  allowed  to  pass,  will  prove  a  hindrance  to  that 
completeness  of  attainment  and  its  accompanying  con- 
sciousness of  power  which  make  the  child  a  voluntary 


THE   EDGEWOKTHS.  59 

worker.  This,  then,  is  an  important  point.  The  plea- 
sure of  thinking,  and  much  of  the  profit,  must  fre- 
quently depend  on  the  learner  preserving  the  connection 
of  ideas.  It  is  impossible  to  teach  those  who  do  not 
grasp  each  link  and  hold  fast  the  whole  chain  of 
reasoning.  This  confessedly  difficult  business  requires 
all  the  skill  at  the  teacher's  command.  His  steps  must 
be  short.  He  must  remember  the  difference  between 
his  own  capacity  and  that  of  his  pupil.  Things  easy 
to  him  may  test  all  the  power  of  the  child.  He  forgets 
how  he  learnt  things  that  now  seem  to  be  received 
intuitively.  The  pupil's  steps  must  not  be  hurried. 
Let  there  be  time  for  each  thing  definitely  to  enter  his 
mind.  It  is  not  speed,  but  complete  attainment  that  is 
to  be  sought.  Especially  is  it  necessary  that  the  pupil 
shall  not  be  perplexed  by  talk,  nor  pressed  too  hastily 
to  reply.  Do  not  place  a  crowd  of  words  between  him 
and  the  end  to  which  you  are  conducting  him. 
Let  him  not  be  lost  in  a  fog.  Yet  there  must  be 
judicious  repetition.  The  reasoning  must  be  repeated 
till  the  chain  of  ideas  is  completely  formed. 

A  great  difficulty  in  teaching,  in  fixing  attention, 
and  securing  thorough  attainment,  arises  from  language. 
This  difficulty  has  several  aspects.  Often  the  pupils 
want  words.  They  have  ideas,  and  they  have  the 
power  of  expressing  them  ;  but  they  are  not  connected 
in  their  minds  with  the  words  used  by  the  teacher, 
hence  there  is  no  common  ground  on  which  they  can 
meet.  The  language  of  the  teacher  awakens  no  cor- 
responding thought  in  the  scholar,  and  his  ignorance 
of  their  knowledge  and  language  makes  these  of  no 
avail  lor  the  elucidation  of  the  subject  in  hand.  Thia 


60  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

shows  the  necessity  of  adding  to  the  child's  knowledge 
of  words  as  well  as  to  his  knowledge  of  things.  This 
may  be  done  in  several  ways:  by  examining  objects 
and  associating  words  and  phrases  with  the  ideas 
obtained  ;  by  reading  and  -  by  conversational  lessons. 
Often  when  children  begin  to  read  they  acquire  a  great 
variety  of  words.  This  is  the  source  of  a  new  danger. 
The  learner  speedily  picks  up  a  particular  use  of  a 
word,  and  the  teacher  concludes  that  its  whole  meaning 
is  laid  bare  to  him.  The  duty  thus  becomes  incumbent 
on  the  teacher  to  deal  with  new  language.  New  words 
and  phrases  should  never  be  passed  without  full  ex- 
planation. This  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  growth 
of  the  understanding,  for  if  their  knowledge  of  words 
is  obscure,  so  will  be  their  thoughts,  and  correct 
judgments  and  right  reasoning  will  be  impossible. 
The  possession  of  words  by  children  which  have  never 
been  unfolded  to  them,  and  the  employment  of  such 
words  in  lessons,  are  fruitful  sources  of  inattention. 
The  words  are  ever  changing  their  meanings,  to  the 
great  perplexity  of  the  learner.  Edgeworth  illustrates 
the  difficulty  to  the  child  by  supposing  it  to  be  set  to 
cast  up  a  sum,  the  figures  of  which  were  being  constantly 
changed  by  the  teacher.  The  child  will  refuse  his 
attention  where  the  language  is  indefinite  to  him.  He 
will  make  no  effort  when  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
understand.  All  this  shows  how  necessary  it  is  for 
a  teacher  to  be  simple  in  his  language,  and  to  use  it 
with  precision. 

Among  motives  to  attention  the  personal  one  must 
not  be  overlooked.  There  are  some  persons  who  have 
the  power  of  exciting  others  to  great  mental  exertions, 


THE   EDGEWOHTI1S.  61 

by  the  ardent  ambition  which  they  inspire,  and  by  the 
value  which  is  set  upon  their  love  and  esteem.  When 
once  this  generous  desire  of  affection  and  esteem  is 
raised  in  their  minds,  their  exertions  seem  to  be 
universal  and  spontaneous  ;  children  are  then  no  longer 
machines  requiring  to  be  regularly  wound  up,  but  they 
are  animated  by  a  living  principle  which  directs  all 
that  it  inspires.  Edgeworth  himself  was  an  example 
of  this  with  his  own  children  ;  and  it  was  perhaps  the 
one  thing  above  all  others  that  accounts  for  Pestalozzi's 
success. 

Great  care  should  be  taken  in  the  selection  of  books, 
whether  for  reading  or  technical  study.  Bad  books 
are  very  mischievous.  Early  reading  books  should 
have  no  narratives  in  which  forms  of  vice,  wrong 
doing,  or  faults  are  described.  Such  books  often  put 
evil  into  the  minds  of  children  which  otherwise  would 
not  have  entered.  They  should  also  be  free  from  false 
sentiment,  and  from  urging  right  actions  by  question- 
able motives.  They  should  also  be  in  good  English. 
Erroneous  modes  of  speech,  though  sanctioned  by  cus- 
tom, should  be  avoided.  The  practice  of  putting  vulgar 
language  into  the  mouths  of  the  actors  in  the  narrative, 
under  pretence  of  being  true  to  nature  and  to  fact, 
cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  Children  do  not 
appreciate  the  supposed  humour,  they  are  not  competent 
to  criticise,  and  they  cannot  but  be  injured  by  it. 
History  is  a  very  appropriate  subject,  but  the  books 
written  for  children  are  open  to  serious  objections.  It 
is  not  right  to  put  opinions  into  children's  heads.  Care 
should  be  taken  not  to  prejudice  the  mind.  The 
characters  that  are  drawn  of  historic  personages,  the 


62  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

moral  reflections  that  are  continually  interspersed,  the 
political  doctrines  that  are  expressed,  are  all  out  of 
place.  Facts  should  be  given  as  fully  as  may  be,  and 
the  children  left  to  form  their  own  judgments. 

Poetry  should  not  be  given  too  early.  Descriptive 
poetry  is  intelligible  to  young  children,  but  it  de- 
mands little  effort  of  attention,  and  therefore  should 
not  form  a  part  of  their  daily  occupation.  It  should 
be  read  but  occasionally.  More  difficult  poetry  must 
always  be  accompanied  by  questioning  and  explanation  ; 
only  thus  can  it  be  made  profitable.  When  clearly 
comprehended  it  may  be  committed  to  memory. 
Grammar  should  not  be  begun  too  early.  First  lessons 
should  not  deal  with  technical  terms.  Familiar  explana- 
tions of  the  structure  of  simple  sentences  should  be  given. 
These  should  be  accompanied  by  exercises,  from  which 
the  children  may  discover  for  themselves  the  offices  of 
words.  From  these  to  more  complicated  sentences, 
until  they  have  a  knowledge  of  rational  grammar. 
Then  they  may  begin  the  more  technical  study. 

The  chapters  in  which  the  Edgeworths  treat  of  moral 
discipline  deserve  the  careful  consideration  of  all 
teachers.  Only  one  or  two  points  are  noticed  here. 
The  first  notions  of  right  and  wrong  which  children 
get  are  from  the  expressions  of  pleasure  or  displeasure 
by  their  parents.  They  thus  learn  to  associate  pain 
with  certain  actions,  and  pleasure  with  others.  In 
continuing  their  moral  education  the  same  principle 
should  be  recognised.  The  whole  treatment  of  a  child 
should  lead  him  to  associate  certain  experiences  as  the 
necessary  consequences  of  his  actions.  This  should  be 
consistently  acted  upon  until  the  association  in  his 


THE   EDGEWOliTHS.  63 

mind  is  indissoluble—  that  wrong  actions  bring  painful 
results.  In  doing  this  the  teacher  will  be  aided  by 
the  way  in  which  a  child  learns  the  qualities  of  external 
things,  and  by  which  its  experiences  fashion  its  con- 
duct. The  child  who  puts  its  finger  too  near  the  fire 
and  burns  it,  and  who  finds  that  the  same  effect  always 
follows  the  same  action,  has  learnt  the  lesson  God  in- 
tended. Punishments  must  be  of  the  same  character. 
They  should  appear  as  the  natural  consequences  of  the 
actions,  and  they  should  be  of  uniform  occurrence. 
Punishments  of  an  artificial  character  have  no  perma- 
nent effect,  for  they  are  perceived  to  have  no  natural 
connection  with  the  offence,  to  depend  on  the  will  of 
the  individual,  to  be  fitful  in  their  severity,  and  not 
certain  in  their  action.  It  is  uniformity  of  natural 
consequences  that  creates  the  impression  of  cause  and 
effect. 

The  child  is  placed  in  a  relation  in  which  its  own 
will  is  to  be  formed  by  first  submitting  to  the  will  of 
another.  The  principles  that  should  guide  in  this  are 
few.  It  is  better  to  prevent  than  punish  ;  hence  care 
must  be  taken  to  form  the  child  to  a  habit  of  obedience. 
Let  first  commands  be  about  things  the  child  has 
pleasure  in  performing.  An  action  which  the  child 
would  do  of  itself  is  thus  associated  with  obedience  to 
a  command.  At  a  somewhat  later  stage  depend  rather 
on  prohibitions.  Here  you  can  enforce  your  will,  or 
you  may  prohibit  actions,  which  if  performed  will 
bring  slight  pain.  Then  disobedience  will  convince 
the  child  that  the  prohibition  was  for  its  good.  When 
commands  are  necessary,  consider  whether  you  can 
enforce  them,  lor  nothing  should  be  done  by  you  that 


64  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

would  suggest  or  foster  obstinacy.  In  early  life  reasons 
are  out  of  place ;  they  cannot  be  understood  ;  hence 
implicit  obedience  must  be  exacted.  But  when  children 
begin  to  reason,  they  do  not  act  merely  from  habit ; 
and  now,  whenever  we  can  use  reason,  we  should  never 
use  force. 

Section  II. — Pestalozzi  and  the  Pestalozzian  System. 

The  term  Pestalozzian  is  used  to  designate  certain 
principles  and  methods  that  are  employed,  in  this 
country,  chiefly  in  infant  culture.  These  principles 
and  methods  in  their  germ,  along  with  much  that  was 
unsound  and  injurious,  were  found  in  the  system  of 
training  established  by  Wilrlerspin.  Their  develop- 
ment and  combination  into — as  far  as  it  goes— a  rational 
system  of  training  is  due  to  neither  worker — but  in 
other  countries  .to  Pestalozzi's  fellow  labourers,  and  in 
this  country  to  the  Mayos  and  to  their  co-workers. 
Reserving  for  another  place  the  contributions  of  these 
to  educational  progress,  we  shall  glance  in  this  at  the 
work  of  Festal ozzi  himself. 

Pestalozzi  was  born  at  Zurich,  January  12th,  1746. 
He  had  reached  his  thirtieth  year,  when  the  failure  of 
some  speculations  in  which  he  had  embarked  at  his 
place,  Neuhof,  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  attempt 
the  accomplishment  of  a  dream  of  his  youth.  He  set 
himself  vigorously  to  pursue  the  means  of  raising  man 
morally,  and  of  promoting  thereby  his  comfort  and 
happiness.  Afflicted  with  the  misery  that  he  saw 
around  him,  and  deeply  pained  at  the  mr/al  depravity 
and  great  degradation  of  the  people,  he  intently 


PESTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      f  5 

revolved  the  problem  of  their  recovery.  His  fir&t 
notion  was,  that  to  elevate  man  morally  he  must  be 
improved  outwardly,  his  circumstances  must  be  bettered, 
his  social  status  raised.  Entering  enthusiastically  into 
this  view  of  the  case,  he  spared  neither  himself  nor 
his  fortune.  He  opened  at  Neuhof  an  industrial  school 
for  poor  children,  an  effort  that  was  not  altogether 
thrown  away  on  them,  as  more  than  a  hundred  were 
reclaimed,  but  which  was  of  more  value  to  Pestalozzi 
himself.  Convinced,  by  the  excesses  that  accompanied 
and  followed  revolutionary  action,  of  the  fallacy  of  his 
previous  opinion,  he  began  to  have  a  glimmering  of  the 
truth,  that  it  is  not  the  change  in  outward  condition 
that  brings  happiness  to  a  community,  but  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  improvement  of  the  individual. 
Hence,  it  now  became  his  aim  to  produce  a  condition 
in  which  the  happiness  of  the  man  would  not  be  affected 
from  without,  because  its  source  would  be  within,  and 
to  raise  the  moral  condition  of  the  community  by  an 
entirely  new  method  of  training  the  young.  His 
opinions  he  embodied  in  various  works,  by  which  he 
sought  at  once  to  stimulate  parents  to  educate  their 
children,  and  to  point  out  how  it  should  be  done.  Of 
these  amongst  others  may  be  named,  "  The  Evening 
Hour  with  a  Hermit,"  "  Leonard  and  Gertrude,"  and 
"  How  Gertrude  teaches  her  Children." 

In  1798,  at  the  age  of  52,  Pestalozzi  became  a  school- 
master, and  from  this  period  until  two  years  before 
his  death  in  1827,  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  work  he 
had  chosen  His  qualifications  for  this  work  consisted 
rather  in  a  profound  conviction  that  education  was  on 
a  wrong  basis,  than  in  any  special  knowledge  of  what 
F 


66  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

it  should  be,  or  how  it  should  be  prosecuted.  He  was 
of  opinion  that  to  enkindle  right  affections,  to  substi- 
ute real  knowledge  for  verbal  forms,  to  develop  mental 
power  rather  than  to  load  the  memory,  and  harmoniously 
to  cultivate  "  the  hand,  the  head,  and  the  heart,"  should 
enter  into  a  right  system  of  education.  But  he  had 
only  vague  conceptions  on  these  points,  and  he  certainly 
saw  no  clear  way  to  their  accomplishment.  However, 
he  brought  to  his  work,  earnestness,  a  loving  spirit,  a 
fair  intellect,  and  a  simplicity,  which  did  not  object  to 
be  instructed  even  by  a  child.  Possessed  of  these  he 
could  not  but  feel  his  way  to  that  which  he  sought. 

It  could  not  but  arise  from  this  beginning,  that  he 
would  fall  into  many  errors,  and  that  there  would  be 
contradictions  betwixt  his  principles  and  practices. 
Besides,  he  lacked  the  power  to  place  clearly  before  his 
mind  his  own  purposes,  and  he  also  lacked  the  power 
to  express  that  which  obtained  in  his  practice.  Thus 
it  happened,  that  his  views  were  often  vague,  and  his 
practices  absurd,  and  things  were  advocated  by  him,  or 
carried  on  under  the  sanction  of  his  name,  that  were 
altogether  anti-Pestalozzian.  It  does  not  fall  within 
our  purpose  to  follow  him  and  his  coadjutors  in  all 
their  experiments,  discussions,  dissensions,  failures,  and 
successes,  but  rather,  to  give,  as  far  as  the  confusion  of 
statement  admits,  a  succinct  account  of  the  principles 
and  methods  to  which  he  gave  his  final  adhesion. 

Clear  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  things  to  bo 
acquired,  rather  than  a  verbal  enunciation  of  a  fact  or 
a  formula,  is  the  leading  principle  of  the  Pestalozzian 
method.  This  he  called  intuition.  The  learner  was  to 
examine  and  compare  things,  and  acquire  ideas  rather 


PESTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      67 

than  signs,  and  this  ho  was  to  do  under  direction  rather 
than  by  instruction.  His  knowledge  was  to  be  real, 
made  his  own  by  examination  with  his  senses.  Clear- | 
ness  of  perception  was  one  thiug  sought,  the  doing  it ' 
for  himself  the  other.  Both  must  go  together;  for  so 
far  as  the  process  of  observation  is  interfered  with  by 
the  oral  communications  of  the  teacher,  so  far  will 
there  be  want  of  clearness  in  the  result,  and  loss  of 
power  to  the  child ;  but  let  the  child  exercise  its  senses 
— under  direction — gradually  on  things,  and  its  per- 
ceptions will  be  clear,  its  mind  strengthened,  and  itself 
prepared  for  further  acquisitions. 

In  this  principle,  Pestalozzi  struck  at  the  root  of  the 
common  practice.  He  found  children's  time  at  school 
spent  on  books,  on  verbal  forms,  on  definitions,  and  in 
committing  to  memory  that  which  they  did  not  and 
could  not  understand,  lie  saw  that  with  the  many, 
school- work  was  fruitless  of  results.  The  people  grew 
up  unintelligent,  their  minds  burdened  with  verbal 
rubbish,  and  themselves  none  the  better,  but  rather  the 
wor.<e  for  their  school  course.  Certainly,  some  struggled 
through  the  form,  and  seized  the  spirit  of  what  they 
acquired,  but  these  were  the  few,  the  gifted,  the  minds 
that  in  any  circumstances  would  have  attained  know- 
ledge  and  power.  Pestalozzi  aimed  to  do  for  the  average 
intellect,  what  superior  minds  struggle  to  do  of  their  own 
accord,  or  intuitively  grasp.  The  common  mind  rested 
in  the  sign.  Their  stores  were  verbal.  There  was  no 
life,  no  meaning,  no  thought.  The  mental  current  was 
not  affected  by  anything  they  acquired.  The  daily  flow 
of  feeling  and  idea  was  governed  entirely  by  the  wants 
of  the  lower  life.  They  never  rose  above  this  level. 


68  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

Their  minds  had  been  weighed  down  at  school,  and 
never  recovered  their  natural  elasticity. 

All  this  Pestalozzi  desired  to  change.  By  banishing 
books,  by  employing  the  senses,  by  developing — Socra- 
tically,  but  in  a  new  form — ideas  in  the  mind,  by 
giving  realities,  by  following  nature,  by  exercising 
every  faculty  in  a  gradual  and  natural  way,  he  hoped 
to  give  the  child  intelligence  and  power,  and  to  habituate 
it  to  live  in  a  higher  sphere  of  thought  and  feeling  than 
was  hitherto  possible.  But  his  distaste  to  the  common 
school  course  was  carried  to  absurd  lengths.  Instead 
of  retaining  what  was  valuable,  and  rejecting  what  was 
bad,  he  aimed  at  something  which  should  be  entirely 
new.  In  fact,  novelty  seems  to  have  had  the  charm 
for  him  that  it  has  for  the  veriest  child.  He  discredited 
everything  that  had  on  it  the  stamp  of  time  and  ex- 
perience. That  which  he  sought  was  very  well  in  its 
place.  The  knowledge  acquired  by  the  child  would  be 
real,  but  fragmentary,  and  this  was  as  it  should  be. 
For  infancy  and  childhood  are  storing  times.  Classi- 
fying, generalizing,  and  defining,  are  altogether  unfitted 
to  a  state  of  mind  in  which  the  stores  for  such  pro- 
cesses have  not  accumulated.  But  the  very  fact,  that 
storing  is  the  work  of  early  life  shows  that  it  is  but 
preparatory  to  something  higher  and  better.  Now  the 
old  school  course  was  wrong,  not  in  what  it  did,  but  in 
doing  it  out  of  place,  and  at  the  wrong  time.  Every- 
thing in  its  order  would  be  a  safer  rule  than  that  which 
would  restrict  a  child  to  the  mental  operations  con- 
nected with  the  senses,  or  that  would  give  it  verbal 
forms  before  the  facts  that  underlie  them.  Pestalozzi, 
in  dismissing  books,  was  right  for  early  childhood,  but 


PESTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      69 

decidedly  wrong  for  a  later  period.  What  in  his  prac- 
tice— supposing  it  to  end  there — could  compensate  for 
the  loss  of  the  discipline  to  be  derived  from  the  study 
of  the  past  ?  For  what  is  a  book  but  the  record  of 
the  working  of  another  mind  at  a  former  period  ? 
And  what  can  be  substituted — at  the  proper  time — for 
the  right  use  of  books  ? 

There  is  an  objection  often  urged  to  the  improved 
methods  of  training  children  practised  by  Pestalozzi, 
which  has  been  partly  anticipated,  but  which  demands 
more  distinct  notice.  The  objector,  instancing  undoubted 
examples  of  progress  and  mental  power  under  the 
former  system,  asks  you  to  account  for  them  if  the 
method  was  so  bad  as  is  assumed.  The  answer  is, 
either  the  superior  quality  of  the  mind  saw  that  the 
sign  was  a  sign,  and  hence  looked  for  something  more, 
and  found  it,  or  experience  of  life  and  intercourse  with 
man  gave  the  letter  subsequently  a  power  which  it  had 
not  while  being  acquired. 

This  point  gained,  that  the  child's  instruction  must 
be  by  things  rather  than  by  words,  and  that  it  must  be 
engaged  on  realities  rather  than  on  signs,  the  next  step 
was  easy  that  the  child  should  not  simply  be  acted 
upon,  but  should  be  an  agent  in  his  own  education. 
He  must  be  made  to  examine,  to  compare,  to  reflect, 
to  think.  His  must  be  the  examination  of  the  objects 
brought  before  him,  and  his  the  expression  of  the  ideas 
awakened  in  his  mind ;  the  teacher's  place  being  to 
guide  by  questions,  and  to  correct  false  impressions  and 
wrong  answers  in  the  same  way.  Whatever  the  thing 
on  which  the  child's  attention  is  occupied,  this  must 
be  the  mode.  The  thing  on  which  it  is  engaged  is 


70  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

comparatively  of  little  importance,  but  the  mode  in 
which  its  attention  is  engaged  is  of  essential  moment. 
"  There  is  not  an  object  so  trivial  that  in  the  hands  of 
a  skilful  teacher  might  not  become  interesting,  if  not 
from  its  own  nature,  at  least  from  the  mode  of  treating 
it.  ....  Any  subject  will  do  for  the  purpose. 
Not  only  the  little  incidents  in  the  life  of  a  child,  but 
everything  within  reach  of  its  attention,  whether  it 
belong  to  nature  or  to  the  arts  of  life,  might  be  the 
object  of  a  lesson,  by  which  the  child  might  be 
familiarized  with  the  habit  of  thinking  on  what  he 
sees,  and  speaking  after  he  has  thought.  The  mode  of 
doing  this  is  not  by  any  means  to  talk  much  to  a  child, 
but  to  enter  into  conversation  with  a  child ;  not  to 
address  to  him  many  words,  however  familiar  or  well 
chosen,  but  to  bring  him  to  express  himself  on  the 
subject ;  not  to  exhaust  the  subject,  but  to  question 
the  cUld  about  it,  and  to  let  him  find  out  and  correct 
the  answers.  The  attention  of  a  child  is  deadened  by 
long  expositions,  but  roused  by  animated  questions. 
Let  these  questions  be  short,  clear,  and  intelligible. 
Let  them  not  merely  lead  the  child  to  repeat  in  the 
same,  or  in  varied  terms,  what  he  has  just  heard  before. 
Let  them  excite  him  to  observe  what  is  before  him,  to 
recollect  what  he  has  learned,  and  to  muster  his  little 
stock  of  knowledge  for  materials  for  an  answer.  Show 
him  a  certain  quality  in  one  thing,  and  let  him  find 
out  the  same  in  others.  Do  this,  and  you  teach  him  to 
observe,  to  think." 

That  the  ideas  gathered  may  be  clear,  and  the  pro- 

I  cess  invigorating,  the  course  must  be  from  the  simple, 

or  that  which  is  easy  and  preparatory,  to  that  which  is 


PKSTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      71 

more  complicated  and  difficult.  This  course  is  to  be 
pursued  whether  dealing  with  a  single  subject,  or  in 
the  entire  course  of  the  child's  training.  For  the\ 
latter  the  near  and  the  familiar  must  be  taken,  and  the  \ 
circle  gradually  enlarged  till  it  embraces  the  remote  1 
and  strange  ;  for  the  former,  that  which  is  elementary 
and  fundamental  must  be  dealt  with,  and  gradually 
added  to,  until  the  full  idea  or  subject  is  built  up  in 
the  mind.  For  instance,  in  connection  with  common 
objects  a  lesson  might  proceed  after  this  fashion  : — the 
object  being  placed  before  the  child  and  distinguished, 
its  name  is  given  and  repeated ;  then  the  parts  are 
noticed  and  named ;  then  the  form  and  size  ;  the 
colour ;  the  smoothness  of  the  surface  ;  the  hardness  or 
softness ;  the  sound  when  touched,  and  so  on,  are 
brought  out  from  observation.  Then  other  objects 
which  resemble  this  in  any  of  these  qualities  are  exa- 
mined so  as  to  bring  out  the  greater  or  small  degree 
thereof,  and  so  on.  Proceeding  thus,  there  is  a  clear 
idea  of  the  object  developed  in  the  child's  mind,  in  a 
gradual  and  natural  way,  and  besides,  there  is  fostered 
an  effort  at  observation,  judgment,  and  expression, 
which,  if  pursued  daily,  could  not  but  train  the  mind 
of  the  child  in  invaluable  habits. 

Pestalozzi  attached  much  importance  to  this  way  of 
engaging  the  child  on  what  was  simple  first,  and  then 
proceeding  in  a  gradual  and  natural  manner  to  what 
was  more  complex.  "  Often,"  he  says,  "  the  supposed 
incorrigibly  dull  and  slow  were  found  to  make  rapid 
progress  in  the  very  things  in  which  they  had  been 
pronounced  incapable,  when  these  were  introduced  to 
them  in  this  simple  and  natural  way."  So  that  he 


72  SYSTEMS    OF    EDUCATION. 

thought  it  ill  became  any  teacher  to  pronounce  on  the 
incapacity  of  any  of  his  pupils,  for  it  might  be  that  he 
was  rather  declaring  his  own  want  of  skill  and  method 
than  the  obtusoness  of  his  pupil's  intellect. 

Pestalozzi  in  pursuing  a  child's  education  would 
have  such  exercises  employed  as  would  be  likely  to  fit 
the  child  for  the  use  of  all  its  faculties.  He  contends 
that  early  education  should  be  general,  not  special ; 
:  and  should  concern  itself  with  the  harmonious  de- 
velopment of  the  whole  nature  as  far  as  that  is  possible 
in  early  life.  Such  also  was  the  opinion  of  Locke, — 
"  The  business  of  education,  in  respect  of  knowledge, 
is  not  to  perfect  the  learner  in  all  or  any  one  of  the 
sciences,  but  to  give  his  mind  that  disposition  and 
those  habits  that  may  enable  him  to  attain  any  part  of 
knowledge  he  shall  stand  in  need  of  in  the  future 
course  of  his  life  "  This  consideration  led  Pestalozzi 
to  seek  for  means  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  and  he 
found  them,  as  he  thought,  on  the  side  of  the  intellect, 
in_numJber,  form,  aud  -lajiguage.  "  These  things,  he 
says,  not  only  elicit  thought  and  train  to  think,  but  are 
the  mediums  through  which  all  ideas  come  to  us  in 
later  life."  Now  without  accepting  this  in  its  entirety, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  a  rational  course  of  training 
would  embrace  these  things.  For,  apart  from  their 
entering  into  so  many  of  our  ideas,  and  apart  therefore 
from  their  general  educational  value,  they  particularly 
recommend  themselves  for  infant  education,  as  their 
/  elementary  parts  admit  of  being  presented  to  the  senses, 
I  while  there  is  also  possible  a  gradual  advance  in  them 
from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract.  Nor  can  it  be  said 
that  Pestalozzi  estimated  too  highly  the  advantages  of 


PESTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      73 

his  method  when  applied  to  these  subjects.  In  the  ' 
case  of  number,  if  things  are  presented  to  the  child  in  , 
groups,  and  the  name  attached  to  the  group,  there  is 
an  intelligence  in  the  result  which  could  not  be  if  but 
the  name  was  given.  So  with  operations  on  numbers. 
Let  these  be  performed  before  his  eyes,  or  by  himself 
with  things,  and  there  is  a  rational  force  in  operation 
rather  than  a  mechanical  one ;  and  thus  taught,  the  child 
is  led,  even  in  the  most  advanced  stages,  to  realize  to 
himself  the  conditions  of  the  problems  he  works,  and 
to  gain  his  results  by  applying  principles  rather  than 
rules.  Such  practice  also  gives  him  analytic  power,  ac- 
customs him  to  exact  thinking,  and  leads  him  to  seek 
for  realities  under  the  signs  with  which  his  mind  works. 
In  the  case  of  form,  such  exercises  as  Pestalozzi  intends, 
lead  the  child  from  the  observation  of  lines  and  angles 
to  discern  at  length  forms  and  relations  in  surrounding 
things,  which,  but  for  these,  would  remain  hidden  from 
him.  But  a  higher  result  is  obtained,  inventive  skilli 
and  a  power  of  abstract  conception,  when  the  child  is 
taught  to  produce,  to  combine,  and  to  originate  forms 
for  himself. 

In  the  case  of  language  it  is  not  so  clear  what  was  \ 
Pestalozzi's  notion,  or  what  the  special  application  of 
his  method  to  it.  Certainly  his  practice  here,  in  some 
points,  was  as  absurd  as  it  could  well  be.  What  ad- 
vantage could  arise  from  bawling  at  the  extent  of  the 
voice  unmeaning  sounds  like  ba,  ba,  ba,  la,  la,  la,  or 
at  a  later  stage  all  the  technical  terms  belonging  to 
some  branch  of  science,  does  not  appear.  But  perhaps 
the  solution  is  in  what  has  been  adverted  to  before, 
that  Pestalozzi  often  failed  to  put  forth  as  well  in 


74  SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION. 

practice  as  in  language  the  conceptions  to  which  his 
mind  gave  hirth.  From  some  of  his  statements,  and 
from  some  of  his  exercises,  we  may  gather  that  it  was 
his  wish  to  enrich  the  mind  of  the  child  with  language  ; 
to  place  at  its  command  a  large  store  of  words  and  their 
combinations,  with  a  thorough  intelligence  of  their 
meaning  and  use,  and  to  give  it  great  facility  of  ex- 
pression in  speaking  and  composition.  Such  a  design, 
well  carried  out,  could  not  fail  to  be  a  valuable  dis- 
cipline to  the  learner,  and  must  fit  him  for  a  more 
intelligent  and  rapid  progress  in  intellectual  pursuits 
at  a  later  time.  Nor  can  it  be  a  valid  ground  of  ob- 
jection that  in  the  early  course  of  a  child's  education 
this  should  be  done,  as  I'estalozzi  proposed,  by  the 
living  voice  in  free  communication  with  the  pupil 
rather  than  by  the  dead  letter  in  books.  The  difficulty 
in  Pestalozzi's  practice  must  have  been  in  getting  the 
children  to  attach  any  meaning  or  take  any  interest  in 
exercises  which  consisted  chiefly  of  verbal  repetition 
after  the  teacher.  The  oral  lesson  on  objects  and  other 
things,  referred  to  in  a  former  paragraph,  would  have 
furnished  the  opportunity  required.  But  Pestalozzi, 
run  away  with  by  the  notion  of  treating  everything 
from  its  elements,  thought  consistency  required  from 
him  the  construction  of  the  series  of  lessons  which  he 
framed  on  language. 

There  remains  but  one  point  necessary  to  notice  in 
this  brief  sketch,  but  that  is  a  most  interesting  one, — 
the  application  by  Pestalozzi  of  his  great  principle  in 
moral  and  religious  training.  Here,  as  in  other  things, 
he  objects  to  words  as  the  vehicle  of  moral  and  religious 
truth ;  he  requires  facts.  Not  facts  of  a  remote  time 


PESTALOZZI  AND  THE  PESTALOZZIAN  SYSTEM.      75 

or  place,  but  facts  occurring  amongst  themselves  or  in 
their  neighbourhood.  And  he  wants  these,  not  to 
convey  notions  merely  to  their  minds,  but  to  lead  them 
to  act  for  others,  or  to  avoid  eviL  He  saw  that  moral 
and  religious  truth,  however  clearly  conceived,  if  not 
acted  out  as  occasions  occurred,  was  not  merely  in- 
operative, but  positively  injurious.  Hence  he  sought 
to  awaken  sympathy,  and  thence  to  lead  to  action. 
This  led  him  ako  to  notice  the  great  difference  in  its 
influence  on  children  between  the  act  witnessed,  or — 
where  that  was  not  possible— conceived,  and  the  pre- 
cept stated.  The  latter,  a  nice  jingle  of  words,  is  learnt, 
and  in  a  few  days  forgotten,  not  having  practically  in- 
fluenced for  a  moment ;  but  the  former  conveys  not 
only  the  truth,  but  exciting  sympathy,  gives  it  firm 
hold  of  the  mind,  and,  if  occasions  are  found  of  acting 
it  out,  fixes  it  as  a  living  power  in  the  life. 

To  develop  religious  feeling  in  a  child,  it  must  be, 
he  thought,  excited  in  the  first  place  towards  parents  1 
and  friends,  in  connection  with  every-day  duties  and  ' 
relations,  and  then  transferred  at  command  to  God. 
Here  is  one  of  his  vague  conceptions  of  a  great  truth. 
That  the  best  way  to  convey  to  the  mind  of  a  child  any 
notion  of  its  relation  to  God,  is  through  its  knowledge 
of  the  relations  that  exist  between  its  parents  and 
itself  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  so  the  best  way  to  make 
apparent  to  a  child  the  nature  of  the  feelings  which 
should  exist  towards  God,  is  by  exciting  right  feelings 
towards  parents  ;  but  that  these  can  be  transferred  at 
command  to  God  is  utterly  impossible. 


76  SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION. 

CHAPTEE    III. 
INFANTS'  SCHOOLS. 

"  OBRRLIN,  the  pastor  of  Walbacli,  in  Alsace,  may  bo 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  infants'  schools.  Louise 
Scheppler,  under  his  auspices,  used  to  assemble  the 
little  children  of  his  parish  between  the  ages  of  two 
and  six.  Their  object  was  to  interest  them  by  con- 
versation, pictures,  and  maps,  and  to  teach  them  to 
read  and  sew."  The  first  infants'  school  in  Great 
Britain  was  established  at  Lanark.  Its  founder,  Kobert 
Owen,  gave  the  following  account  of  its  origin  to  a 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1816  : — 
?  "The  children  are  received  into  a  preparatory  or 
training  school  at  the  age  of  three,  in  which  they  are 
perpetually  superintended,  to  prevent  them  acquiring 
bad  habits,  to  give  them  good  ones,  and  to  form  their 
dispositions  to  mutual  kindness  and  a  sincere  desire  to 
contribute  all  in  their  power  to  benefit  each  other. 
These  effects  are  chiefly  accomplished  by  example  and 
practice,  precept  being  found  of  little  use,  and  not 
comprehended  by  them  at  this  early  age.  The  children 
are  taught  also  whatever  may  be  supposed  useful  that 
they  can  understand,  and  this  instruction  is  combined 
with  as  much  amusement  as  is  found  to  be  requisite 
for  their  health,  and  to  render  them  active,  cheerful, 
and  happy,  fond  of  the  school  and  of  their  instructors. 
.  .  .  In  this  training  school  the  children  remain 
two  or  three  years,  according  to  their  bodily  strength 
and  mental  capacity.  When  they  have  attained  as 
much  strength  and  instruction  as  to  enable  them  to 


WILDERSPIN.  77 

unite,  without  creating  confusion,  with  the  youngest 
classes  in  the  superior  school,  they  are  admitted  into 
it.  In  this  school  they  are  taught  to  read,  write, 
account,  and  the  girls,  in  addition,  to  sew ;  but  the 
leading  object  in  this  more  advanced  stage  of  their  •*/ 
instruction  is  to  form  their  habits  and  dispositions." 

The  teacher  of  this  first  infants'  school,  Buchanan, 
was  subsequently  put  in  charge  in  1819  of  a  similar 
school  in  Westminster  by  Brougham,  Lansdowne, 
James  Mill,  Macaulay,  and  others.  In  1820  another 
was  opened  in  Spitalfields,  of  which  Wilderspin  took 
the  charge,  with  whose  name  the  methods  and  success 
of  the  earlier  period  of  the  movement  are  connected. 

Section  I. —  fVildei'spin. 

Samuel  Wilderspin  was  born  in  London.  At  the 
time  of  the  experiment  under  Buchanan  he  was  clerk 
at  the  New  Jerusalem  Church,  Waterloo  Road.  The 
minister  of  this  church,  Mr.  Goyder,  introduced  him 
to  Buchanan,  by  whom  he  was  induced  to  give  himself  _, 
to  infant  training.  The  opportunity  offered  in  the 
school  erected  by  Joseph  Wilson  in  Quaker  Street, 
Spitalfields,  the  charge  of  which  was  given  to  Wilderspin  i 
and  his  wife.  They  opened  it  on  the  24th  July,  1820, 
a  memorable  morning,  when  Wilderspin,  at  his  wits' 
end,  by  exhibiting  his  wife's  gaudily  adorned  cap  at 
the  end  of  a  pole,  succeeded  in  arresting  the  attention 
and  reducing  to  quiet  the  screaming  crowd  that  had 
hitherto  baffled  all  his  efforts.  This  was  the  real 
beginning  of  the  infants'  school  system.  Not  only  is 
the  very  name  due  to  Wilderspin,  but  it  was  his 
arduous  and  self-denying  labours,  his  ingenuity,  per- 


78  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

severance,  and  skill  that  gave  it  formand  made  it  a 
power. 

When  Wilderspin  began  his  work  he  was  literally 
without  a  plan,  and  almost  without  an  aim.  He  had 
some  vague  notions  of  rescuing  the  little  ones  under 
his  charge  from  the  depraving  influence  of  their  daily 
associations,  and  of  giving  them  a  culture  that  should 
be  beneficial  to  their  future.  But  of  plans  he  had 
none,  of  principles  he  had  no  knowledge,  of  what 
education  really  was  or  required  he  had  no  conception. 
His  work  was  one  of  experiment.  Many  were  his 
mistakes,  many  bis  failures.  Much  that  was  absurd 
or  impossible  to  realize,  or  that  was  positively  injurious, 
found  a  place  at  times  in  his  school,  and  obtained  his 
advocacy ;  but  he  gradually  hit  upon  valuable  principles, 
and  introduced  practices  that  have  maintained  their 
ground  to  the  present  day.  His  success  was  such,  that 
those  statesmen  and  others  to  whom  reference  has 
already  been  made,  having  their  attention  drawn  to  it, 
conceived  the  plan  of  a  society  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  the  establishment  of  similar  schools.  Of 
that  sanguine  and  enthusiastic  temperament,  so  neces- 
sary to  the  pioneer  in  difficult  enterprises,  Wilderspin 
was  eminently  fitted  for  the  work  that  now  lay  before 
him.  During  the  next  twenty  years  we  find  him 
travelling  to  every  part  of  the  British  islands,  lecturing, 
establishing  schools,  training  their  teachers,  and  con- 
ducting examinations,  wherever  his  services  were 
required,  or  where  he  thought  an  opening  might  be 
made.  Besides  this,  he  kept  open  a  central  school  in 
Cheltenham,  conducted  when  he  himself  was  away  by 
members  of  his  family,  or  bj  his  own  trained  agents. 


WILDERSPIN.  79 

This  course  of  life  not  only  added  to  his  experience, 
but  also  brought  him  into  contact  with  many  earnest 
educationists,  such  as  Stow,  Simpson,  Combe,  and 
Close,  and  with  many  good  practical  teachers ;  the 
result  being  an  enlargement  of  his  own  views,  and  an 
occasional  adoption  of  a  principle  or  a  method,  without, 
it  might  be,  the  consciousnesss  of  his  indebtedness. 
This  explains,  perhaps,  his  pertinacious  and  somewhat 
angry  contention  of  later  life,  that  things  that  were 
doubtless  taken  from  others  had  their  origin  in  his 
own  experiments.  In  the  brief  sketch  now  to  be  given 
of  his  system,  we  neither  propose  to  trace  its  growth, 
nor  to  separate  what  is  properly  his  own  from  what  he 
picked  up  from  others,  but  simply  to  set  forth  the 
leading  principles  and  practices  which  he  ultimately 
advocated.  » 

At  an  early  period  Wilderspin  became  aware  that  if  / 
he  was  to  succeed  he  must  adapt  his  measures  to  the 
nature  of  the  child.  This  became  his  leading  idea,  and 
the  clue  in  all  his  experiments  to  what  he  hoped — a 
rational  system  of  training.  Hence  he  arrived  at  the 
truth,  which  he  sets  forth  as  a  leading  principle  of 
education,  that  the  whole  nature  of  the  child  must  be 
considered,  and  his  education  be  physical  and  moral  as 
well  as  intellectual.  Physical  culture  required  him  to 
pay  special  attention  to  habits  of  cleanliness,  and  to 
those  ailments  of  young  children  by  which  others  might 
be  affected.  Imitative  actions  and  amusing  exercises, 
adopted  at  first  simply  as  a  means  of  arresting  atten- 
tion, he  continued  not  only  on  that  account,  but  as 
important  instruments  in  physical  training.  Singing, 
introduced  as  a  recreation,  was  employed  also  for  the 


80  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

same  end.  The  playground,  introduced  for  moral  pur- 
poses, supplied  the  means  of  fresh  air  and  outdoor 
exercises.  In  all  these,  and  in  clapping  and  marching, 
he  says  play  is  given  to  the  lungs,  the  blood  is  sent 
with  a  quickened  impulse,  and  every  organ  of  the  body 
is  benefited. 

Following  his  principle  of  suiting  himself  to  the 
nature  of  the  child,  he  perceived  that  the  rigidity  of 
the  National  or  of  the  Dame's  school  was  unsuitable. 
Their  forced  quiet,  their  constrained  positions,  were 
unnatural.  Childhood  is  joyous,  childhood  is  active, 
childhood  is  curious,  childhood  is  imitative.  The 
child  delights  in  laughter,  frolic,  and  fun  ;  and  if  it  is 
to  be  educated  aright,  these  must  be  encouraged  and 
provided  for,  not  repressed.  For  there  is  a  mutual 
reaction  between  the  departments  of  human  nature, 
and  where  there  is  a  violent  repression  of  lawful 
actions,  unless  in  obedience  to  a  higher  law  of  nature, 
there  must  be  injury.  For  instance,  the  joyousness  of 
childhood,  good  in  itself,  is  much  more  so  as  a  moral 
agent,  or  at  least  as  a  favourable  condition  to  moral 
growth  ;  while  certainly  the  opposite  state  is  one  from 
which  may  spring  all  manner  of  evil  dispositions, 
tempers,  and  habits.  With  this  truth  before  him,  he 
sought  to  make  school  a  happy  place,  and  provided  the 
child,  as  far  as  he  had  power,  the  means  of  acting  out 
its  real  life. 

Moral  education  was  rightly  deemed  by  Wilderspin 
as  the  chief  aim  of  school  training ;  in  fact,  that  he 
might  raise  from  their  moral  degradation,  or  recover 
from  vice,  the  children  of  the  poor  or  criminal  class, 
was  that  which  led  to  his  life-long  devotion  to  their 


WILDERSPIN.  81 

cause.  Moral  education  should  take  precedence  of 
every  other  school  practice.  However  strong  the 
temptation — and  to  some  it  is  a  strong  one — to  give 
attention  to  what  is  showy,  or  that  can  be  measured, 
it  must  not  be  yielded  to.  The  child's  best  interests 
must  not  be  sacrificed  to  a  puerile  love  of  display,  nor 
to  a  wish  for  pecuniary  gain. 

Moral  education  embraces  at  least  two  things — the 
instilling  of  moral  truths  and  principles  into  the  mind 
of  the  child,  and  the  formation  of  its  disposition, 
temper,  and  habits.  In  other  words,  it  aims  "  to  give 
a  moral  constitution  to  the  child  instead  of  a  moral 
custom."  It  has  been  too  much  the  practice  to  depend 
on  moral  injunctions  and  the  committal  of  Scripture 
texts  to  memory,  as  the  means  of  giving  an  acquaintance 
with  religious  and  moral  truth  and  duty.  The  principle 
that  he  had  hit  on  at  an  early  period  of  his  labours, 
that  a  child's  education  must  be  by  things  rather  than 
by  words,  suggested  the  absolute  futility  of  the  common 
practice.  It  became  evident  to  him  that  it  was  not 
only  fruitless  in  moral  results,  but  that  it  altogether 
failed  to  convey  any  notion  of  the  truths  themselves. 
He  found  that  to  give  moral  perceptions  there  must  be 
present  to  the  child  the  example  or  the  act  that  embodies 
the  truth.  His  only  course  was  therefore  to  take 
advantage  of  the  little  incidents  occurring  in  the 
schoolroom  and  playground,  and  to  take  familiar 
instances  of  conduct  coming  within  their  experience,  as 
his  means  of  communicating  to  them  notions  of  virtue 
and  religion.  The  same  great  truth  which  had  served 
him  in  this  also  led  him  to  see  that  injunction,  precept, 
and  learning  by  rote,  would  equally  fail  to  affect  the 

G 


82  SYSTEMS    OF  EDUCATION. 

feelings  or  form  the  habits  It  would  be  as  wise  to 
expect  a  child's  health  to  be  benefited  by  merely 
learning  to  repeat  maxims  on  exercise  and  cleanliness. 
No ;  if  the  disposition  is  to  be  moulded,  the  temper 
formed,  the  foundation  of  right  habits  laid,  it  must  be 
through  example,  the  culture  of  the  feelings,  and  by 
right  actions.  Proper  feelings  must  be  excited,  and 
occasions  found  for  acting  them  out,  if  there  is  to  be 
any  moral  or  religious  result.  To  excite  feeling  and 
sympathy  he  depended  on  cases  actually  brought  before 
the  children,  on  instances  which  their  imaginations 
could  conceive,  on  incidents  occurring  in  the  play- 
ground, and  on  example.  By  means  of  the  playground 
he  made  himself  acquainted  with  faults  only  revealed 
there,  and  obtained  the  means  of  exercising  the  moral 
judgment  of  the  whole,  or  of  benefiting  the  individual 
otherwise  not  possessed.  Here,  also,  he  had  the  sphere 
where  he  could  bring  practice  to  his  aid.  Little  ones 
were  taught  practical  lessons  in  forbeafance,  kindness, 
truthfulness,  and  honesty.  Here  they  learnt  to  give 
way,  in  little  things,  to  the  wishes  of  their  associates, 
to  protect  the  weak,  to  help  the  suffering,  and  generally 
to  learn  the  lesson  that  life  consists  in  promoting  the 
well-being  of  those  around.  In  such  ways  he  sought 
to  train  the  heart  rather  than  the  head,  to  bring  out 
the  good  deed  rather  than  a  good  precept,  for  he  had 
discovered  that  learning  to  act  takes  precedence  in  the 
life  of  a  child  of  learning  to  talk.  While  thus  seeking 
to  prevent  the  formation  of  evil  dispositions  and  habits 
by  the  formation  of  such  as  were  good,  he  also  found 
that  the  only  way  to  destroy  what  was  evil  was  not 
by  the  rod,  or  by  attempted  forcible  repression,  but  by 


WILDERSPIN.  83 

carefully  cultivating  the  opposite  habit,  practice,  or 
disposition. 

In  cultivating  the  intelligence,  the  plan  had  hitherto 
been  to  do  so  through  language.  Wilderspin  dis- 
covered that  for  the  infant  the  process  should  be 
reversed.  He  found  out,  he  says,  on  his  first  day  in 
school,  that  if  he  would  arrest  the  attention,  it  must 
be  through  the  senses.  Following  this  up,  he  obtained 
the  truth  that  objects  should  be  examined  and  com- 
pared, and  ideas  obtained,  before  the  attempt  to  give 
them  expression.  This  being  done,  language  became 
to  the  children  a  living  thing,  words  being  then  the 
signs  of  realities,  instead  of  so  much  lumber  lying  as  a 
dead  weight  on  their  faculties.  This  valuable  principle, 
long  before  advocated  by  Locke,  and  shortly  to  be 
extensively  known  as  Pestalozzian,  is  the  key  to 
Wilderspin's  system  and  success  in  cultivation  of  the 
intelligence.  Yet,  had  he  adhered  to  his  principle 
here,  as  in  other  things,  of  adapting  himself  to  the 
natuie  of  the  child,  he  would  have  found  that  the 
principle  is  valuable  only  within  certain  limits.  For 
as  a  matter  of  fact  and  of  necessity,  children  do  acquire 
much  language,  and  much  through  language,  that  they 
cannot  understand,  and  this  requires  both  to  be 
furthered  and  dealt  with  in  a  right  way.  How  to  do 
so  was  one  of  the  problems  Stow  tried  to  solve. 

From  the  principle  that  a  child's  first  instruction 
must  be  through  the  senses,  by  things,  not  by  words, 
there  was  but  a  step  to — a  child  must  not  receive  simply 
at  the  hands  of  his  teacher,  but  must  make  efforts  of 
his  own,  his  teacher  showing  him  how  to  think  rather 
than  what  to  think.  For  "  the  aim  of  the  infant 


84  .         SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

school  should  not  be  to  give  knowledge,  but  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  the  habit  of  seeking  for  it."  In  practice, 
there  were  many  departures  from  these  principles.  For 
with  an  object  before  them,  the  attention  was  not  con- 
lined  to  points  which  could  be  observed  or  discovered, 
but  much  information  was  detailed  of  a  kind  totally 
unsuited  to  the  mind  of  a  child.  This  at  length  pro- 
ceeded to  such  extravagant  lengths,  that  many  who  did 
not  discern  the  good  came  to  condemn  the  whole  thing. 

The  means  employed  for  this  cultivation  were  various. 
Motions  with  the  fingers  accompanied  the  utterance  of 
words,  as  up,  down,  perpendicular,  horizontal,  paral- 
lel, angle,  and  so  on.  Objects,  and  where  these 
were  not  procurable,  or  of  a  nature  not  to  bring  into 
the  schoolroom,  pictures  were  employed  on  which  to 
give  lessons.  Those  on  pictures  he  found  often  more 
interesting  than  those  on  objects,  but  he  failed  to  dis- 
cover wherefore;  which  is  that  a  higher  power,  the 
conceptive,  is  brought  into  play,  than  in  simple  obser- 
vation, a  power  to  which  much  of  the  enjoyment  of 
early  life  is  traceable.  Lessons  in  number  were  given 
by  means  of  the  arithmeticon,  and  on  form  by  means 
of  an  instrument  which  could  be  formed  into  triangles, 
squares,  and  other  geometrical  figures.  To  all  these  he 
added  lessons  in  reading,  though  not  conducted  on  a 
method  in  accordance  with  his  first  principle. 

Since  the  first  appearance  of  this  brief  account  of 
Wilderspin's  system,  he  himself  has  been  called  away. 
His  death  took  place  nine  years  ago.  It  attracted  little 
attention  at  the  time  ;  still  some  portions  of  the  press 
referred  to  his  great  services  to  education.  He  was  the 
first  to  produce  a  system  of  infant  training.  But  he 


THE   MAYOS.  85 

also  awakened  public  attention  to  its  importance,  and 
he  did  much  to  establish  it  in  the  country.  He 
travelled  to  many  parts  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  establishing  schools,  undertaking  their  charge 
for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  and  then  holding  a  public 
examination  to  show  the  nature  and  results  of  his 
work.  He  could  boast  that  he  had  thus  commenced 
the  training  of  upwards  of  20,000  children,  and  had 
instructed  the  teachers  of  hundreds  of  schools.  Besides 
this,  he  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  in  the  places  he 
visited,  explanatory  of  his  aims  and  plans,  and  h« 
published  two  valuable  works  on  infant  training.  It 
was  this  enthusiastic,  long-continued,  and  self-sacri- 
ficing advocacy  that  led,  after  two  or  three  abortive 
attempts,  to  the  placing  of  infant  training  on  a  sound 
and  satisfactory  basis. 

Section  II. — The  Mayos. 

Educational  progress  has  consisted  in  the  adoption 
of  higher  ends  and  aims,  and  of  improved  principles 
and  methods  of  culture  ;  and  in  extending  the  area  of 
culture  in  the  community.  These  have  generally  pro- 
ceeded together.  But  among  the  workers  in  this  field 
some  have  given  more  attention  to  the  former  than  to 
the  latter,  satisfied  that  if  they  could  improve  the  quality 
of  education,  its  extension  would  follow.  In  continu- 
ing our  observations,  the  work,  sometimes  of  one, 
sometimes  of  the  other,  will  come  under  notice  ;  but  it 
is  not  within  our  purpose,  even  were  it  possible  or 
desirable,  to  bring  under  review  every  movement  of 
the  past  fifty  or  sixty  years — years  forming  a  period  of 


86  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

educational  excitement  never  before  experienced.  It 
will  suffice  to  show  the  character  of  this  progress,  if  wo 
instance  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  movements. 
/  The  work  of  Pestalozzi  attracted  attention  to  it  from 
every  part  of  Europe.  Many  visited  the  scenes  of  his 
labours,  and  not  a  few,  captivated  by  what  they  saw, 
remained  students  of  principles  which  they  felt  were 
to  revolutionize  the  entire  system  of  early  education. 
Of  those,  who  thus  visited  him,  there  were  some  whose 
tastes  and  aptitudes,  improved  by  liberal  culture,  enabled 
them  to  separate  the  principles  from  the  forms  in  which 
they  were  embodied,  and  by  which  their  real  nature 
was  too  often  obscured,  even  from  Pestalozzi  himself. 
But  for  them,  his  must  have  been  simply  an  example 
of  lofty  zeal  and  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  education.  Catching  the  spirit  of  his  method 
rather  than  its  form,  these  provided  courses  of  instruc- 
tion and  training  for  the  systematic  and  harmonious 
development  of  the  whole  nature  of  the  child.  Among 
these,  Charles  Mayo  and  his  sister  did  for  England 
what  had  been  already  done  for  Continental  countries 
by  others  of  Pestalozzi 's  disciples. 

"  Profoundly  convinced,"  he  observes  in  his  preface 
to  "  Lessons  on  Objects,"  "of  the  truth  of  Pestalozzi's 
views,  and  warned  against  his  errors  by  long  actual 
observation  of  their  consequences,  the  writer  of  these 
prefatory  remarks  determined  to  attempt  the  introduc- 
tion of  his  method  into  England,  religiously  preserving 
the  Idea,  but  adapting  the  Form  to  those  circum- 
stances in  which  he  might  be  placed.  He  considered 
that  the  most  effectual  mode  of  accomplishing  this  end. 
was  to  devote  himself  to  the  formation  and  conduct  of 


THE   MAY  OS.  87 

a  school,  in  which  the  arrangement  and  practical  appli- 
cation of  those  principles  might  he  made.  To  exhibit 
the  system  in  operation,  to  elaborate,  by  means  of 
experiments  continually  repeated,  a  course  of  instruc- 
tion ;  and  above  all,  to  prepare  materials  for  an  appeal 
to  actual  results,  seemed  to  him  a  far  more  useful  and 
effectual,  though  less  rapid  or  brilliant  process,  than 
that  of  dragging  it  before  reluctant  audiences  at  public 
meetings,  or  of  advocating  its  merits  in  the  periodical 
publications  of  the  day.  He  was  content  that  it  should 
be  buried  in  oblivion  for  a  while,  assured  that  if  it 
possessed  the  life  of  truth,  it  would  in  due  time  spring  ( 
up  with  renovated  vigour.  That  time  seems  to  have 
arrived.  Attention  to  this  subject  is  revived.  Schools 
professing  to  be  conducted  on  Pestalozzian  principles 
are  increasing  in  number,  and  publications  issue  from 
the  press  which  point  out,  with  more  or  less  success, 
.the  manner  of  applying  them  to  different  branches  of 
instruction.  Under  these  encouraging  circumstances, 
it  is  proposed  to  publish,  from  time  to  time,  a  number 
of  little  treatises  of  a  strictly  practical  nature,  em- 
bodying in  a  familiar  manner  the  principles  of  Pesta- 
lozzi.  They  will  be  the  results  of  many  years'  expe- 
rience— the  corrected  and  re-corrected  editions  of 
lessons  actually  given  by  different  individuals."  In 
conformity  with  this  announcement,  there  issued  at 
short  intervals  little  books  of  "  Lessons  as  given  at 
Cheam,  Surrey."  But  before  this,. as  early  as  1826, 
Mr.  Mayo  had  directed  attention  to  Pestalozzi  and  his 
principles,  in  a  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institution.  From 
this  lecture  we  give  the  following  summary  of  Pesta- 
lozzi's  principles. 


88  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

Pestalozzi  was  unencumbered  by  the  trammels  of  a 
regular  school,  and  unfettered  by  its  routine.  Nature 
became  the  school  book  ;  and,  in  the  actual  experience 
and  self-acquired  knowledge  of  his  pupils,  he  found 
those  elements  of  instruction  which  are  usually  sought 
in  the  discoveries  of  other  minds  and  the  abstractions 
of  science.  Pestalozzi  accustomed  his  pupils  to  make 
observations  on  the  objects  that  surrounded  them,  and  to 
express  with  accuracy  the  ideas  which  they  thus  acquired. 
He  taught  his  assistants  that  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic  were  not  the  real  elements  of  instruction, 
but  that  a  simpler,  a  more  natural  foundation,  must  be 
sought.  The  basis  of  all  sound  knowledge,  argued  he, 
is  the  accurate  observation  of  things  acting  on  the  out- 
ward senses.  Unless  physical  conceptions  be  formed 
with  distinctness,  our  abstractions  will  be  vague,  and 
our  ju  Igments  and  reasoning  unstable.  The  first  object 
then  in  education  must  be  to  lead  a  child  to  observe 
with  accuracy ;  the  second,  to  express  with  correctness 
the  result  of  his  observation.  The  practice  of  embody- 
ing in  language  the  conceptions  we  form  gives  per- 
manence to  the  impressions  ;  and  the  habit  of  ex- 
pressing ourselves  with  the  utmost  precision  of  which 
we  are  capable,  mainly  assists  the  faculty  of  thinking 
with  accuracy  and  remembering  with  fidelity. 

This  being  the  leading  idea  of  his  method,  the  fol- 
lowing are  the  principles  by  which  it  should  be 
pursued.  fc 

Education  should  be  essentially  religious.  Its  end 
and  aim  should  be  to  lead  a  creature,  born  for  immor- 
tality, to  that  conformity  to  the  image  of  God  in  which 
the  glory  and  happiness  of  immortality  consists.  In 


THE   MAYOS.  89 

pursuing  this  end,  the  instructor  must  regard  himself 
as  standing  in  God's  stead  to  the  child  ;  and  as  by  the 
revelation  of  God's  love  is  the  spiritual  transformation 
of  man  accomplished,  so  must  the  earthly  teacher 
build  all  his  moral  agencies  on  the  manifestation  of  his 
own  love  towards  the  pupil.  Then,  as  "  we  love  God 
because  He  first  loved  us,"  so  will  the  affections  of  the 
pupil  be  awakened  towards  his  instructor,  when  he 
feels  himself  the  object  of  that  instructor's  regard. 
Again,  as  love  to  God  generates  conformity  to  His  will, 
so  will  obedience  to  the  instructor  be  the  consequence 
of  awakened  affection. 

Education  should  be  essentially  moral.  The  prin- 
ciples and  standard  of  its  morality  should  "be  derived 
from  the  precepts  of  the  gospel,  as  illustrated  by  the 
example  of  the  Redeemer.  Moral  instruction,  to  be 
availing,  must  be  the  purified  and  elevated  expression 
of  moral  life  actually  pervading  the  scene  of  education. 
In  carrying  on  the  business  of  the  schoolroom,  or  in 
watching  over  the  diversions  of  the  playground,  the 
motives  and  restraints  of  the  purest  morality,  and  those 
only,  must  be  employed.  Moral  diseases  are  not  to  be 
counteracted  by  moral  poisons ;  nor  is  intellectual 
attainment  to  be  furthered  at  the  expense  of  moral 
good. 

Education  should  be  essentially  organic.  A  stone 
increases  in  size  by  the  mechanical  deposition  of  matter 
on  its  external  surface ;  a  plant,  on  the  other  hand, 
grows  by  continual  expansion  of  those  organs  which 
lie  folded  up  in  its  germ.  Elementary  education, 
as  ordinarily  carried  on,  is  a  mechanical  inculcation 
of  knowledge,  in  the  Pcstalozzian  system  it  is  an 


90  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

organic  development  of  the  human  faculties,  moral, 
intellectual,  and  physical.  Moral  education  does  not 
consist  in  preventing  immoral  actions  in  the  pupil,  but 
in  cultivating  dispositions,  forming  principles,  and 
establishing  habits.  Nor  does  intellectual  education 
attain  its  end  by  the  mere  communication  of  intellec- 
tual truths,  but  rather  in  the  development  of  those 
faculties  by  which  truth  is  recognised  and  discovered. 
And,  lastly,  physical  education,  instead  of  confining 
itself  to  instruction  in  particular  arts,  must  be  directed 
to  the  improvement  of  the  outward  senses,  and  the 
increase  of  activity  and  strength. 

Activity  is  the  great  means  of  development,  for  action 
is  the  parent  of  power.  The  sentiments  of  the  heart, 
the  faculties  of  the  mind,  the  powers  of  the  body, 
advance  to  their  maturity  through  a  succession  of 
acting  in  conformity  to  their  nature.  Opportunities 
for  the  exercise  of  moral  virtue  should  be  carefully 
sought  out,  or,  at  least,  diligently  applied.  To  culti- 
vate benevolent  dispositions,  the  pupil  should  be 
invited' to  relieve  the  indigent ;  to  overcome  his  selfish- 
ness, he  should  be  induced  to  share  or  to  part  with  the 
objects  of  his  own  desire.  In  intellectual  cultuse 
every  branch  of  instruction  should  be  so  presented  to  the 
pupil's  mind,  as  to  bring  into  the  highest  activity  the 
faculties  most  legitimately  employed  upon  it. 

That  there  may  be  that  action  that  leads  to  develop- 
ment, there  must  be  liberty.  It  may  be  possible  by  a 
system  of  coercion,  to  produce  a  negative  exterior 
morality,  which  shall  endure  as  long  as  the  circum- 
stances on  which  it  is  built  remain  in  force ;  but  no 
interior  moral  power,  that  shall  survive  a  change  of 


THE  MAYOS.  91 

outward  circumstances,  can  be  formed,  unless  such 
moral  liberty  be  enjoyed  as  leaves  to  the  judgment 
room  for  discerning  between  good  and  evil  ;  to  the 
moral  choice  the  adoption  of  the  one,  and  the  rejection 
of  the  other;  to  the  conscience  the  approval  and  rewarding 
of  right,  the  condemnation  and  punishment  of  wrong. 
Restraint  is  useful  to  check  the  career  of  passion,  to 
arrest  the  progress  and  diffusion  of  moral  mischief,  to 
remove  the  incentives  to  evil,  and  to  restore  to  that 
position  in  which  the  moral  principle  may  again  exert 
its  influence.  Still  it  is  only  a  negative,  not  a  positive 
means.  All  the  real  development  of  man,  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  physical,  arises  from  moral,  intellectual, 
and  physical  liberty. 

This  liberty  must  be  directed  by  an  influence  essen- 
tially parental ;  where  there  is  no  mother  there  can  be 
no  child,  is  as  true  morally  as  it  is  physically.  It  is 
the  order  of  providence  that  maternal  affection  and 
maternal  wisdom  should  call  forth  the  dawning  powers 
of  childhood  ;  and  that  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  a 
father  should  build  up  and  consolidate  the  fabric 
which  reposes  on  a  mother's  love.  The  Pestalozzian 
instructor  must  combine  the  character  of  each  relation, 
but  exhibit  them  in  different  proportions  according  to 
the  age  and  disposition  of  his  pupil. 

The  development  of  the  faculties  should  be  harmo-  _^ 
nious.  In  some  cases  the  intellectual,  or  moral,  or 
both,  are  sacrificed  to  the  physical ;  in  some,  the  moral, 
or  physical,  or  both,  to  the  intellectual.  A  Pestaloz- 
zian educator  respects  the  rights  of  each.  He  fortifies 
the  body  by  gymnastic  exercises,  while  he  cultivates 
the  understanding,  and  trains  the  sentiments.  He  en- 


92  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

deavours  to  preserve  the  equipoise  in  each,  as  well  as 
between  each  of  the  three  departments,  to  mingle 
firmness  with  sweetness,  judgment  with  taste,  activity 
with  strength.  His  object  will  be,  not  to  develop  a 
disproportionate  strength  in  one  faculty,  but  to  produce 
that  general  harmony  of  mind  and  character  which  is 
the  most  conducive  to  the  happiness  and  usefulness  of 
the  individual. 

Development  should  be  essentially  progressive.  The 
sentiments  should  be  gradually  led  to  take  a  higher 
direction  and  a  wider  range.  The  motives  of  well- 
doing must  be  by  degrees  elevated  and  purified  in  their 
character ;  the  duty  which  was  discharged  at  first  in 
obedience  to  an  earthly  father  must  be  set  forth  as  the 
requirements  of  a  heavenly  one  ;  the  charities  of  life 
must  be  exercised  towards  those  in  immediate  contact ; 
by  degrees  an  interest  may  be  cultivated  in  operations 
embracing  a  wider  or  distant  sphere  of  usefulness. 
•^  In  every  branch  of  study,  the  point  de  depart  is 
sought  in  the  actual  experience  of  the  child  ;  and  from 
that  point  where  he  intellectually  is,  lie  is  progressively 
led  to  that  point  where  the  instructor  wishes  him  to 
be.  Thus  he  proceeds  from  the  known  to  the  unknown, 
by  a  process  that  connects  the  latter  with  the  former, 
and,  instead  of  being  abruptly  placed  in  contact  with 
the  abstract  elements  of  a  science,  he  is  led  by  a  course 
of  analytical  investigations  of  the  knowledge  actually 
possessed,  to  form  for  himself  those  intellectual  ab- 
stractions which  are  in  general  presented  as  the  primary 
truths. 

/    With  these  adaptations   of  Pestalozzi's  principles, 
Mr.  Mayo  and  his  sister  gave  themselves  to  the  task  of 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.         93 

working  them  out  in  a  private  school.  Subsequently 
they  embodied  them  in  the  series  of  lessons  to  which 
reference  has  been  made,  and  eventually  secured  for 
them  a  wide  circulation  and  adoption  through  the 
agency  of  the  Home  and  Colonial  Training  Institution. 
With  that  institution  and  its  great  work  their  name  is 
intimately  associated. 

Section  III. — Home  and  Colonial  School  Society. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  in  connection  with  educa- 
tional progress,  that  its  gains  and  its  advancement  have 
been  by  a  constant  struggle  against  a  tendency  to  de- 
teriorate. So  much  of  the  success  of  a  method,  or  of 
the  application  of  a  principle,  has  been  due  to  the 
personal  element — the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
teacher — that  many,  who  thought  to  adopt  the  principle 
or  apply  the  method,  have  failed  to  obtain  like  results. 
Nor  is  it  difficult  to  account  for  this.  It  is  much  easier 
to  get  the  form  in  which  a  method  or  a  principle  is 
embodied,  than  it  is  to  get  the  thing  itself.  It  is  also 
a  much  easier  thing  to  Apply  the  form  mechanically, 
than  it  is  to  work  out  by  the  principle  or  method  in- 
volved. Hence  as  few  ever  penetrated  through  the 
form,  and  many  lacked  the  spirit  which  alone  wins 
success,  while  most  were  too  indolent,  intellectually,  to 
incur  the  exertion  that  true  education  demands,  there 
have  been  but  few  good  teachers,  and  the  majority  have 
either  sunk  back  into  rote  and  rule,  or  have  aimed  at 
results  which,  while  they  were  showy,  were  also  un 
sound.  This  tendency  to  deterioration  has  had  illus- 


94  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

trations  in    every  movement  of  the  century,  but   in 
no  case  more  noticeably  than  in  infant  education. 

The  primary  object  of  an  Infants'  School  should  be 
moral  and  physical  training,  and  laying  the  basis  of 
good  habits.  The  cultivation  of  intelligence — except 
as  a  matter  of  method — should  hold  a  subordinate 
place.  By  Wilderspin  and  some  of  his  abler  coadjutors, 
this  object  was  on  the  whole  kept  steadily  in  view.  But 
by  many,  the  Infants'  School  was  made  either  a  place 
of  amusement — necessary  to  keep  the  little  ones  quiet 
— or  a  place  of  forcing  or  cram.  In  many  schools,  the 
number  of  subjects  professed  was  appalling,  and  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  task  the  energies  of  adults. 
The  teaching — not  that  it  deserved  the  name — was 
showy  and  pretentious.  The  result  was  seeming  wealth 
and  real  poverty.  Words,  hard,  dry,  scientific,  took 
the  place  of  things  and  ideas.  Facts  of  all  kinds  were 
crammed  into  the  children's  moutlis,  to  the  injury  of 
their  truthfulness,  and  to  the  prevention  of  their  growth 
in  real  intelligence.  There  was  no  proper  method,  no 
proper  food.  Ignorant  of  mind,  and  indifferent  to  con- 
sequences, these  empirics  brought  the  whole  system 
into  ridicule,  and  placed  the  existence  of  such  schools 
in  peril.  In  corroboration  of  this,  we  may  quote  the 
following  observations  of  the  late  Joseph  Fletcher,  Esq., 
one  of  H.M.  Inspectors  of  schools  :  "  Some  of  the 
promoters  of  infant  schools  appear  to  have  considered 
them  merely  as  asylums  for  healthful  amusement,  under 
some  degree  of  discipline  and  moral  control.  Others 
seem  to  have  thought  they  presented  opportunities 

likewise  for  mental  improvement The 

most  fatal  error  was  the  leaven  of  intellectual  display 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.         95 

which,  whatever  the  subjects  for  its  exercise,  appears  to 
have  crept  into  a  good  many  of  these  establishments  of 
earlier  formation.  It  seems  to  have  produced  in  some 
of  them  what  I  do  not  know  how  to  designate  other- 
wise than  as  the  '  prodigy  system,'  under  which  the 
quicker  children  were  to  be  wonders  of  envy  and  ad- 
miration to  the  rest,  and  the  whole  school  in  which 
they  were  exhibited  one  of  admiration,  if  not  of  envy, 
to  its  friends  and  neighbours,  on  occasion  of  each 
*  examination,'  which  might  more  truly  have  been 
designated  a  little '  drama,'  in  which  the  clever  children 
had  each  their  little  part  of  'representation'  by  rote. 
Conceit,  envy,  and  fretfulness,  ill  restrained  by  fear, 
were  the  leading  moral  elements  of  such  a  system  ;  and 
stultifying  verbal  repetition,  its  chief  intellectual 
exercise.  Travesties  of  the  language  of  science  vied 
with  desecrations  of  that  of  Scripture,  and  the  world 
of  truth  was  shut  out  by  a  veil  of  familiarity  with  its 
unvivified  formulae." 

But  there  were  some  who  knew  how  invaluable  were 
well- conducted  Infants'  Schools  They  had  formed  a 
right  opinion  of  their  true  purpose,  they  had  a  fairly 
just  conception  of  the  objects  to  be  sought  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  intelligence  during  the  period  of  infancy, 
and  they  had  a  glimpse  of  the  methods  appropriate  to 
the  period  and  purpose.  Unwilling  that  what  was 
good  should  be  lost,  and  that  institutions  capable  of  so 
much  real  work  should  fail,  through  a  mistaken  or 
inefficient  agency,  they  formed  a  society  for  the  purpose 
of  "  improving  and  extending  "  the  existing  system. 

This  Society,  founded  in  1836,  adopted  the  title, 
Home  and  Colonial  Infant  School  Society.  It  in- 


9fi  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

eluded  in  its  purpose  the  training  of  teachers,  and  the 
working  out  and  setting  forth  in  model  schools  such 
principles,  practices  and  methods  as  a  growing  ex- 
perience and  careful  experiment  might  establish  as 
suitable  for  infant  training.  "At  an  early  period  of 
their  labours,  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  obtain  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  Miss  Mayo,  the  well-known 
author  of  '  Lessons  on  Objects,'  who,  to  a  clear  know- 
ledge of  the  principles  on  which  Infant  Education 
should  be  founded,  added  eminent  practical  skill, 
acquired  at  her  brother's  justly  celebrated  school  at 
Cheam."  They  also  secured  the  services  of  Robert 
Dunning  as  Training  Master — a  gentleman  eminently 
qualified  by  natural  aptitude,  special  study,  and  ex- 
tensive experience,  for  that  office,  and  they  obtained 
as  Honorary  Secretary,  J.  S.  Reynolds, — to  whose 
zeal,  devotion,  indefatigable  exertion,  and  educational 
.knowledge,  the  Institution  owes  much  of  its  success. 

Ere  this  Society  began  its  labours,  the  two  most 
marked  systems  of  infant  training  were  those  of 
Wilderspin  and  Stow.  That  of  Wilderspin,  as  pointed 
out  in  a  former  section,  was  in  its  essential  features  the 
same  as  that  of  Pestalozzi.  In  the  hands  of  many, 
however,  it  had  sadly  degenerated,  until  it  had  lost 
nearly  all  that  was  appropriate  for  infant  culture.  Stow, 
though  professing  to  observe  the  same  principles, 
really  to  a  great  extent  lost  sight  of  them  in  his  pur- 
suit of  what  he  thought  a  higher,  yet  appropriate 
culture  of  the  infant  mind.  The  advent  of  a  new 
society,  aiming  to  improve  and  extend  existing  systems, 
might  have  been  thought  a  favourable  juncture  for 
framing  a  system  of  culture  that  should  harmoniously 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.         9? 

blend  the  two  great  methods,  and  do  really  what  both 
professed,  train  the  "  hand,  the  head,  and  the  heart." 
I  Jut  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  The  infant  mind  had 
not  been  sufficiently  studied.  No  system  was  yet 
possible  that  should  provide  an  education  just  suited 
to  the  nature  of  the  being  to  be  educated.  The  ac- 
cession of  Miss  Mayo  gave  a  decided  direction  in  the 
system  of  training  adopted  to  Pestalozzianism.  Not 
that  there  was  a  slavish  adherence  to  a  name.  The 
active  agents  in  the  work  of  training  were  too  much 
in  earnest,  and  too  practical,  not  to  avail  themselves  of 
whatever  might  more  effectually  promote  it. 

An  early  improvement  on  the  existing  system  was 
the  banishment  of  the  huge  gallery,  and  the  division 
of  the  school  into  sections,  so  as  to  render  possible  a 
gradual  system  of  instruction  and  training,  adapted  to 
the  nascent  power  and  awakening  faculties  of  the 
children.  The  same  thing  had  been  done  by  Stow  for 
juveniles  above  the  age  of  seven,  but  he  retained  in  the 
Infant  School  the  absurd  practice  of  addressing  at 
once  the  whole  school,  though  ranging  between  the 
ages  of  two  and  six. 

The  following  remarks  by  Mr.  Dunning,  in  1841, 
set  forth  the  purpose  and  advantages  of  this  arrange- 
ment. 

"  I  now  come  to  the  question — Why  are  the  children 
of  the  Model  School  separated  at  gallery  lessons,  and 
not  taught  together  as  in  the  greater  majority  of  Infant 
Schools  1  I  like  to  see  this  spirit  of  inquiry  into  our 
plans  and  practices :  we  want  teachers  to  investigate 
and  to  think  for  themselves,  and  I  earnestly  wish  they 
would  do  so,  not  only  when  they  visit  the  Model 
H 


98  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

School,  but  every  other  school.  Observe  first,  any 
plans  that  differ  from  your  own,  and  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  reasons  for  them  :  examine  them  with 
reference  to  the  true  ends  and  aims  of  education,  and, 
having  formed  your  judgment,  adopt  or  reject  them 

accordingly Our  changes   are   not   the 

results  of  caprice  or  a  desire  of  novelty  ;  we  endeavour 
to  keep  in  mind  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
improvement  of  the  children  on  the  standard  of  reason 
and  the  word  of  God ;  and  as  increased  experience 
amongst  the  little  ones  has  proved  the  inadequacy  of 
any  plans  practised,  they  have  been  laid  aside,  and  suc- 
ceeded by  others  better  calculated  to  promote  the  end 
in  view.  It  is  the  effect  produced  by  our  machinery, 
and  not  the  machinery  itself,  that  is  the  object  of  our 
attention  ;  and  considering  how  limited  is  the  know- 
ledge of  the  phenomena  of  the  human  mind,  and  of 
the  laws  which  regulate  human  thought  and  feeling,  it 
is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  we  should  see  grounds  for 

changing  our  plans But  to  return  to  the 

immediate  subject  before  us  ;  the  principle  on  which 
children  in  the  Model  School  are  separated  at  gallery 
lessons  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  which  leads  all 
teachers  to  separate  them  at  reading,  ciphering,  or 
writing.  We  ought  just  as  soon  to  think  of  teaching 
all  the  children  to  read  together  in  one  class,  as  to 
learn  the  elements  of  knowledge  in  one  division.  In 
teaching  to  read  in  classes,  you  adopt  a  method  that 
economises  time,  that  keeps  all  grades  of  children  em- 
ployed ;  the  advanced  are  not  retarded  by  those  of 
slower  progress,  nor  the  slow  and  dull  hurried  beyond 
their  power.  Now  this  is  all  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but 


HOME    AND    COLONIAL    SCHOOL    SOCIETY.         99 

it  is  capable  of  a  more  extended  application ;  it  is 
equally  applicable  to  intellectual  and  moral  improve- 
ment ;  they  are  precisely  in  the  same  degree  progressive ; 
they  do  not  change  their  nature  because  they  are  taught 
in  a  gallery ;  and  experience  shows  that  there  is  no 
mode  of  meeting  the  difficulty  but  by  dividing  and 
classifying  the  children.  In  some  Infant  Schools  the 
only  object  is  to  provide  comfortable  shelter  to  the 
children ;  then  they  may  content  themselves  with  a 
spacious  apartment,  an  ample  playground,  a  few  pictures 
to  amuse  the  mind,  and  a  few  swings  to  occupy  the 
body.  In  such  a  place,  the  division  of  a  gallery  of 
children  would  be  absurd.  In  other  schools,  the  great 
object  is  the  acquisition  of  the  art  of  reading  and  one 
or  two  other  mechanical  exercises,  whilst  the  songs  sung, 
and  the  little  lessons  given  on  pictures,  are  only  to  re- 
lieve and  amuse.  Here,  again,  division  is  out  of  the 
question.  In  schools  of  a  different  character,  how- 
ever, the  principles  which  require  the  classification  of 
children  whilst  receiving  instruction  and  exercise  at  the 
galleries,  may  be  summed  as  follows  : — 1st,  '  That  the 
development  of  the  various  faculties  does  not  take 
place  at  the  same  time,  and  that  in  each  it  is  progres- 
sive.' 2nd,  '  That  when  the  internal  faculties  are 
systematically  and  habitually  exercised,  they  gain 
strength,  durability,  and  readiness  of  action.'  3rd, 'That 
to  derive  benefit  from  the  exercise  given,  the  strength 
and  continuance  of  the  stimulus  must  be  duly  propor- 
tioned to  the  maturity  and  condition  of  the  faculty  on 
which  it  operates.'  In  carrying  these  principles  into 
practice,  our  children  are  separated  into  four  great 
divisions,  which  may  be  almost  called  four  schools.  In 


100  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

these,  the  children  are  arranged  not  according  to  size, 
or  age,  or  acquirements  in  reading,  but  according  as 
their  mental  and  moral  faculties  seem  to  be  awak- 
ened. 

"  The  utility  of  this  division,  and  the  graduated  and 
progressive  nature  of  the  instruction  given,"  will  be 
apparent  on  consideration  "  of  the  objects  kept  in  view 
in  each  of  the  four  divisions.  In  the  first  division,  it 
is  proposed  to  exercise  the  bodily  organs,  to  obtain  order 
and  obedience,  preserving  a  tone  of  cheerful  good 
humour  fitting  the  joyous  season  of  infancy,  and  to 
give  the  first  religious  impressions. 

"  In  the  second  division,  it  is  proposed  to  exercise 
the  conceptive,  as  well  as  the  perceptive  faculties  of 
the  children ;  that  is,  to  accustom  them  to  reproduce 
and  accurately  express  the  ideas  gained  through  the 
senses ;  to  arouse  and  enlighten  their  consciences,  by 
bringing  before  them  different  moral  qualities,  and 
particularly  their  own  responsibility ;  to  call  out 
religious  feeling,  making  use  for  this  purpose  of  Scrip- 
ture pictures. 

"In  the  third  division  it  is  proposed,  in  addition  to 
exercising  the  faculties  of  perception  and  conception, 
to  give  the  children  a  little  simple  information  on  sub- 
jects about  which  they  have  been  previously  interested, 
and  to  exercise  their  memories  in  storing  up  the  ideas 
gained ;  to  make  the  moral  instruction  arise  as  much 
as  possible  out  of  the  events  of  the  day,  habituating 
the  children  to  try  their  own  dispositions  and  conduct 
by  the  standard  of  the  Bible;  the  religious  lessons 
to  be  drawn  immediately  from  the  Bible,  and  to  form 
a  regular  course  by  which  the  children  may  be  trained 


HOME   AND    COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       101 

to  preserve  in  their  minds  a  chain  of  events ;  the  in- 
struction in  general  to  become  more  systematic  and 
connected. 

"  In  the  fourth  division,  or  juvenile  section,  the 
children  become  more  independent  of  the  master's 
instruction  ;  they  learn  to  acquire  for  themselves ;  the 
object  with  them  is  to  cultivate  the  higher  faculties,  as 
judgment  and  reflection, — to  give  a  more  decided 
direction  to  those  powers  that  have  been  developed, 
and  to  endeavour  to  fit  them  for  a  life  of  usefulness. 
Writing,  ciphering,  and  linear  drawing  are  more 
practised,  and  a  larger  share  of  Scripture  and  other 
important  information  committed  to  memory.  They 
also  perform  the  office  of  monitors,  and  thus  learn  to 
make  use  of  what  they  have  acquired." 

It  is  easy  to  trace  in  this  description  the  lingering 
of  those  forcing  practices  which  had  been  heretofore 
the  bane  of  many  infants'  schools.  But  the  fact  of 
graduating  the  lessons  to  the  growing  capacity,  and  of 
forming  divisions  in  which  to  carry  them  out,  with  the 
evident  desire  that  existed  to  arrive  at  a  rational  system, 
gave  a  warrant  that  as  experience  grew,  that  which  was 
preposterous  would  disappear. 

Having  adopted  Pestalozzianism  as  its  basis,  this 
Society's  great  service  to  the  cause  of  infant  education 
was  the  reduction  of  its  principles  and  methods  to  a 
practicable  shape.  This  it  did  by  the  preparation  of 
graduated  courses  of  instruction.  Surveying,  from  the 
stand-point  chosen,  the  field  of  infant  culture,  they 
selected  such  subjects  as  were  fitted  for  their  purpose, 
and  dealt  with  them  so  as  to  illustrate  their  fitness  to 
secure  the  end  in  view,  and  to  point  out  the  method  by 


102  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

which  it  was  to  be  attained.  Their  aim  was  by  a 
graduated  and  progressive  course  to  secure  the  harmo- 
nious development  of  the  whole  child,  so  as  to  pre- 
serve it  from  being  of  stunted  and  dwarfed  proportions, 
a  result  which  would  certainly  follow  from  a  one-sided 
treatment,  and  a  result  which  the  system  adopted 
would  not  enable  them  to  escape.  The  courses  of  in- 
struction provided  indicated  the  matter  which  was 
deemed  suitable  for  the  specific  purpose  in  view,  the 
order  in  which  it  should  be  presented,  and  the  method 
by  which  it  was  to  effect  its  design.  The  latter  was 
also  deemed  to  equal  or  to  surpass  in  importance  the 
other,  so  that  it  became  almost  an  axiom  that  how  to 
teach  was  of  more  importance  than  what  to  teach. 

Development  and  intuition  are  the  two  great  watch- 
words of  Pestalozzianism.  The  former  points  out  that 
education  is  an  organic  process,  proceeding  from  within, 
activity  on  the  part  of  the  child  being  essential  to 
the  end, — the  growth  and  vigour  of  its  faculties. 
It  also  points  out  the  necessity  of  suitable  stimuli  being 
presented  to  the  embryo  faculties  to  excite  them  to 
action,  and  that  these  must  be  presented  in  a  gradual 
and  progressive  way,  so  as  at  once  to  feed,  to  strengthen, 
and  to  stimulate  for  higher  action.  And  it  also  points 
out  that  each  phase  of  mind — feeling,  will,  intelligence 
— must  be  regarded,  as  it  is  impossible  to  exclude  any 
during  the  presence  of  one,  and  that  no  child  is  devel- 
oped where  any  department  has  been  overlooked.  The 
latter  points  out  the  condition  of  success  ;  the  starting- 
point  of  successful  culture  being  the  child's  observa- 
tion or  experience.  These  principles  and  others  allied 
therewith  are  set  forth  in  the  graduated  courses  and 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL  SCHOOL    SOCIETY.      103 

numerous  publications  of  the  Society  in  a  way  which 
leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  Other  principles,  more 
advanced  and  of  equal  importance,  are  often  enunciated, 
but  their  application  is  obscured  by  the  prominence  of 
the  other  method.  Nor  is  it,  perhaps,  a  loss  that  it  is 
so.  For  we  have,  in  consequence,  as  complete  an  ex- 
position of  what  Pestalozzianisni  can  accomplish  as  may 
be  hoped  for  or  desired. 

In  endeavouring  to  form  a  right  estimate  of  this 
work,  of  the  fitness  of  any  part  of  it,  or  of  the  end 
proposed,  it  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  what 
that  end  was.  It  was  nothing  less  than  the  complete 
education  of  a  child  during  the  period  of  infancy. 
The  claim  advanced  was  that  of  having  nicely  adapted 
a  variety  of  expedients  into  one  harmonious  system, 
that  takes  in  every  faculty  of  child-nature  coming  into 
play  during  the  period  of  culture.  Such  a  claim  implies 
that  the  child  has  been  an  object  of  study,  and  that  a 
complete  knowledge  of  it,  and  of  the  laws  of  its 
being,  has  been  obtained.  Without  this  the  right 
education  of  the  whole  child  cannot  be,  and  any  scheme 
of  education  will  vary  in  completeness  according  to  the 
knowledge  possessed.  We  may  well  hesitate  in 
yielding  assent  to  this  claim.  But  granting  a  partial 
knowledge  to  have  been  obtained,  and  a  theory  of  child- 
life  formed,  complete  as  far  as  it  goes,  defective  but  not 
erroneous,  it  may  be  held  that  in  judging  of  their 
scheme  ot  education  we  must  regard  it  from  their  stand- 
point, and  must  consider  any  part,  not  as  if  isolated,  but 
as  one  of  many  things  working  together  for  an  in- 
tended result. 

The  object  was  a  noble  one.    In  fact,  it  was  the  only 


104  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

way  to  success  at  all.  No  one  can  succeed  as  an  edu- 
cator who  does  not  conceive  of  education  as  a  whole  ; 
as  a  fitting  of  parts  synchronously  and  in  succession. 
There  is  nothing  really  isolated  in  a  teacher's  work. 
The  close  of  a  lesson  is  not  the  end  of  it.  Nor  is  it 
the  number  of  lessons  that  makes  school  work.  Nor 
are  the  lessons,  where  education  is  the  aim,  however 
distinct  in  subject,  isolated  in  purpose.  School  work, 
if  it  is  to  be  educational,  however  diverse  it  may  be, 
must  be  a  unity.  All  the  lessons,  all  the  influences  at 
work,  in  all  the  days  of  school  life,  must  be  considered 
and  provided  in  order  to  harmoniously  working  out 
the  child's  education.  Oneness  is  the  characteristic  of 
a  good  educational  system,  and  this  Society  must  have 
the  credit  of  giving  it  its  rightful  prominence. 

We  shall  begin  our  illustrations  with  religious 
training.  It  was  a  principle  of  Pestalozzi  that  educa- 
tion should  be  essentially  religious.  He  regarded  a 
child  as  possessing  religious  instincts,  which  had  but 
to  be  properly  exercised  to  become  religious  principles 
and  habits.  But  this  Society  took  a  more  Scriptural 
and  evangelical  view.  The  necessity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  work  on  the  heart  and  conscience  was  insisted 
upon.  It  was  seen  that,  however  true  the  doctrine, 
however  suitable  in  form,  however  well  adapted  to 
interest  the  child,  to  awaken  its  sympathies,  to  enlighten 
and  quicken  its  conscience,  it  would  be  but  a  show  of 
vain  words,  powerless  to  change  the  heart  or  improve 
the  life  if  not  accompanied  by  the  direct  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

lleligious  education  does  not  consist  in  furnishing 
the  memory  with  texts,  nor  in  the  daily  use  of  the 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       105 

Scriptures,  nor  even  in  acquaintance  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  gospel.  Religion  itself  is  not  a  belief,  but  a 
spiritual  and  transforming  influence,  pervading  the 
whole  life.  So  religious  education  consists  not  in  the 
knowledge  given,  but  in  a  holy  influence  felt  in  the 
schoolroom  and  in  the  playground,  in  the  lesson  and 
at  play.  It  is  not  religious  education  unless  the  truth 
given  in  the  lesson  has  a  transforming  influence  on  the 
character,  or  becomes  an  active  principle  in  the  life. 
Hence  the  test  of  success  is  in  the  child  and  not  in  the 
lesson.  It  is  not,  has  the  truth  been  communicated,  but 
has  its  power  been  experienced  1  With  such  an  aim  as 
this  the  devoted  teacher  will  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
extent  of  Scripture  knowledge,  however  gratifying  in 
itself,  bnt  will  be  ever  watching  for  the  dawning  of 
spiritual  light,  and  the  buddings  of  spiritual  life. 

Still  truth  must  be  communicated.  In  fact  it  is  the 
first  step.  Then  what  truth,  at  what  period,  and  in 
what  form  1  These  questions  receive  a  definite  reply. 
The  truth  to  be  taught  relates  to  God,  His  character, 
His  abhorrence  of  sin,  His  mercy  through  Christ,  the 
relations  of  the  child  to  God  and  its  duties  to  Him,  and 
generally  a  knowledge  of  His  will  and  word.  Such 
truth,  as  the  child  is  able  to  receive  it,  cannot  be  com- 
municated too  soon.  There  is  no  sympathy  with  the 
crotchet  that  would  leave  the  mind  uninformed  till 
reason  is  ripe.  For  the  truth  is  not  given  for  the 
benefit  of  the  intellect  but  for  the  impression  of  the 
heart.  And  the  youngest  mind  capable  of  affection  to 
a  parent  is  in  a  position  to  have  a  similar  feeling 
awakened  towards  God.  The  form  in  which  this  truth 
u»  communicated  is  the  vital  point.  It  must  not  be 


106  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

by  abstract  statement.  It  must  enter  the  intelligence 
or  it  will  not  reach  the  heart,  and  mere  abstractions 
fail  to  do  that. 

Three  steps  or  stages  are  recognised  as  marking  this 
course. 

"First  Step. — First  ideas  of  God.  The  object  at 
this  step,  is  to  give  the  infants  their  first  ideas  of  God 
— to  teach  them  that  they  have  a  Heavenly  Father ; 
leading  them  to  feel  somewhat  of  His  power,  from  its 
manifestations  in  those  works  of  His  with  which  they 
are  familiar,  and  somewhat  of  His  benevolence,  by  com- 
paring it  with  the  love  shown  them  by  their  parents 
and  friends.  Thus  to  begin  with  what  they  have  seen 
and  done,  and  then  endeavour  to  raise  their  hearts  to 

Him  whom  faith  only  can  comprehend 

Teachers  should  avail  themselves  of  what  is  passing 
immediately  under  the  children's  observation.  On  a 
bright  sunny  day,  let  the  blessing  we  derive  from  the 
sun,  and  the  goodness  of  God  manifested  in  the  beauti- 
ful and  useful  part  of  His  creation,  form  the  lesson. 
On  a  wet  day  they  might  learn  to  understand  and  ap- 
preciate something  of  God's  goodness  in  sending  the 
rain,  which  refreshes  our  earth  and  causes  it  to  bring 
forth  and  bud.  A  lesson  on  their  food,  on  water — its 
uses  and  abundant  supply,  on  fire,  all  might  help  to 
raise  the  infant  heart  in  reverential  love  to  the  Giver  of 
all  good.''  The  following  may  be  taken  as  an  out- 
line of  the  lessons  at  this  step  : — "  1.  The  children 
to  be  led  to  talk  about  something  in  which  they  are 
interested — their  parents,  and  what  they  do  for  them, 
or  some  of  the  works  of  creation — endeavouring  to 
call  out  their  feelings.  2.  What  they  see  and  know  to 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       107 

be  made  a  stepping-stone  to  what  they  cannot  see 
and  do  not  know.  To  lead  them  from  the  love  of  their 
earthly  parents  to  form  some  idea  of  God,  who  is 
love  ;  to  lead  them  also  to  conceive  from  observation 
of  His  works  that  He  must  be  good  and  great,  and 
wise.  3.  The  ideas  gained  in  each  lesson  to  be  care- 
fully impressed  on  the  memory  by  simultaneous 
repetition." 

This  step  has  been  advocated  on  these  grounds. 
"  There  are  conceptions  to  be  formed  of  a  Being  that 
is  neither  present,  nor  can  be  seen,  and  cannot  be  com- 
pared (except  faintly  and  in  some  remote  points)  to 
anything  around  the  child  ;  who  can  only  be  known 
by  the  manifestations  he  gives  us  of  himself,  in  nature, 
providence,  and  grace.  This  is  to  be  taught  to  a  child 
in  the  first  dawnings  of  intellect,  and  to  one  who  has 
no  ideas  at  first,  except  what  it  receives  from  sensible 
objects ;  whose  feelings  come  into  activity  as  it  comes 
into  contact  with  the  beings  around  it.  But  whilst 
the  child  is  thus  circumstanced  intellectually,  it  is 
constituted  so  as  easily  to  go  from  what  it  sees  to  what 
it  does  not  see,  and  to  transfer  its  ideas  of  what  is 
seen  to  that  which  may  not  be  seen.  Morally,  it  is 
disposed  to  depend  on,  to  love,  to  reverence,  to  submit 
to,  to  conciliate  the  persons  around  it,  to  believe  the 
word  of  those  it  loves,  and  so  on,  and  it  can  be  made 
to  transfer  these  feelings  to  parties  remote.  The  point 
at  which  we  are  to  start  at  is,  this  little  being  itself, 
with  all  its  ideas  taken  from  sensible  things,  and  all  its 
feelings  brought  into  activity  by  the  actions  of  those 
around  it,  anil  the  point  to  which  we  are  to  bring  it,  is 
God,  whom  rightly  to  know  is  life  eternal.  In  the 


JOS  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

first  step  we  endeavour  to  awaken  the  feelings  of  love, 
gratitude,  dependence,  reverence,  faith,  towards  those 
around  the  child ;  and  thus  prepare  him  to  exercise 
the  same  feelings  towards  God." 

The  first  of  these  positions  may  be  granted.  It  is 
not  so  clear  that  the  other  may.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
a  child  may  form  conceptions  of  the  unknown  from 
what  it  knows,  that  is,  "  to  transfer  its  ideas  of  what 
is  seen  to  that  which  may  not  be  seen  ; "  but  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  a  child  "  can  be  made  to 
transfer  "  its  feelings  at  the  will  of  those  in  charge  of 
it.  The  fact  is,  feelings  are  excited  by  the  presence  of 
their  objects,  and  where  any  feeling  has  been  habitually 
excited  and  properly  yielded  to,  there  the  feeling  lias  a 
tendency  to  pass  into  the  phase  of  disposition,  so  that 
the  mind  is  in  the  state  to  take  the  initiative  in  refer- 
ence to  anything  that  contains  the  exciting  cause. 
Now  the  difficulty  in  relation  to  the  feelings,  love, 
reverence,  submission,  and  such  like,  is  in  placing  the 
object  really  and  distinctly  before  the  mind ;  but  let 
these  feelings  be  brought  into  activity  in  connection 
with  those  that  the  child  knows,  until  the  child  be- 
comes disposed  to  exercise  them  towards  all  possessing 
the  qualities,  then  if  their  exciting  causes  as  existing 
in  God  can  be  made  distinct  to  the  child,  the  feelings 
will  spring  up  of  course.  The  closing  sentence  is  a 
better  statement  of  the  result  sought  than  the  former 
one,  and  may  be  accepted  as  embodying  the  great 
principle  on  which  all  must  act  who  wonld  excite 
religious  emotion  in  a  child. 

Second  Step. — Further  ideas  of  God  from  Scripture 
incidents,  by  the  aid  of  Scripture  prints.  "  At  this 


HOME   AND    COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       109 

step,  it  is  proposed  to  carry  the  children  through  a 
course  of  religious  instruction,  with  the  help  of  Scrip- 
ture prints.  The  story  is  to  be  gathered  from  the 
picture  by  the  children's  attention  being  directed  to 
it  by  questions.  A  portion  of  Scripture  should  be 
given,  that  the  children  may  connect  the  narratives 
with  the  Bible,  and  receive  them  as  divine  instruction." 
"  The  Scripture  print  is  to  be  used  in  various  ways. 
First,  it  serves  as  a  groundwork  for  questions.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  lessons  the  children  must  be 
questioned  in  such  a  manner  that  they  may  obtain  and 
give  answers  by  looking  at  the  print.  Thus,  their 
observation  being  directed  to  the  representation,  their 
minds  will  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  subject,  and 
they  will  long  for  the  narrative.  Secondly,  while  the 
narrative  is  given  in  the  words  of  the  teacher,  or  in 
words  read  from  the  Bible,  questions  are  mingled  at 
intervals  with  the  relation,  and  the  print  is  glanced  at 
again  and  again,  for  the  requisite  reply.  Thirdly,  the 
print  is  to  be  used  as  a  help  to  the  children  in  the 
repetition  of  the  narrative." 

"  The  purpose  of  prints  in  scriptural  instruction  is 
to  awaken  curiosity,  to  excite  observation,  to  engage 
and  fix  attention.  That  the  print  is  needed  and  suited 
to  accomplish  these  ends  is  very  certain.  All  who 
know  anything  of  the  minds  of  children,  know  that 
their  interest  will  be  excited  by  the  mere  sight  of  a 
picture.  We  know,  too,  that  when  their  interest  has 
been  excited,  a  considerable  effort  must  be  made  in 
order  to  sustain  their  attention.  Tf  infants  have  not 
the  subject  of  instruction  set  as  an  object  before  their 
eyes,  their  thoughts  soon  begin  to  wander  from  it.  It 


110  SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION. 

is  true  they  may  be  interested  by  the  meaning  of 
words  addressed  to  them ;  nevertheless,  without  an 
object  which  meets  the  eye  their  minds  cannot  easily 
be  fixed  on  the  subject,  and  drawn  off  from  all  others. 

But,  beside   the   purpose  to  which  the 

teacher  purposely  applies  the  print,  it  benefits  the 
children  even  without  his  effort  or  design.  It  aids 
the  conceptions  of  the  children,  it  enlivens  their 
apprehension  by  embodying  their  ideas.  While  their 
ears  receive  the  words  addressed  to  them,  their  eyes 
encounter  a  representation  of  the  ideas,  and  thus 
impressions  are  made  on  the  mind  with  a  two- 
fold impulse,  and  become  doubly  deep  and  permanent. 

Whatever    improvement    of    the   mind 

and  heart  can  be  effected  by  means  of  a  Bible  lesson 
without  a  print,  may  be  effected  by  means  of  a  lesson 
with  one.  In  addition  to  such  benefit,  moreover,  the 
use  of  the  print  insures  greater  exercise  of  mind,  and 
go  an  increase  of  its  strength,  a  more  lively  apprehen- 
sion of  the.  subject,  and  a  more  lasting  impression  on 
the  memory."  The  use  of  prints  as  a  mechanical  aid 
to  less  gifted  teachers,  and  as  a  necessary  one  for  infants 
from  the  poverty  of  their  language  and  the  weakness 
of  their  attention,  is  no  reason  for  the  more  gifted 
teacher  with  more  advanced  children  shackling  himself 
with  such  a  device.  A  descriptive  and  word-picturing 
method  has  certainly  the  advantage  of  giving  more 
scope  to  the  teacher,  at  the  same  time  that  it  demands 
a  greater  effort  from  the  children. 

"  Third  Step. — Scripture  histories  and  character, 
religious  and  moral  duties,  and  Scripture  natural  his- 
tory. At  this  step,  narratives  are  chosen,  with  a  view 


HOME    AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      Ill 

to  inculcate  some  of  the  chief  fundamental  truths  of 
Christianity.  For  instance,  sin — its  nature — intro- 
duction into  the  world — its  consequences — and  the 
remedy  provided  for  it  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of 
Go;l.  Incidents  and  characters  are  also  selecte^,  with 
a  view  to  inculcate  some  important  truth  or  influential 
precept.  As  the  children  advance,  lessons  are  given  to 
illustrate  the  natural  history  of  the  Bible;  and  the 
instruction  is  drawn  from  the  Bible  in  a  regular  con- 
nected course,  therehy  training  the  children  to  preserve 
in  their  minds  the  idea  of  a  chain  of  events." 

With  respect  to  the  general  method  of  conducting 
religious  instruction,  it  is  held  that  a  mother's  inter- 
course with  her  little  ones  should  suggest  the  style  of 
communication.  Colloquial  and  simple,  while  winning 
the  confidence  of  the  little  ones,  it  will  also  be  found 
to  be  the  most  impressive.  A  lesson  too  will  be  more 
effective  if  confined  to  developing  and  impressing  one 
point.  This  will  not  make  the  lesson  meagre,  for  it 
may  be  discussed  in  a  variety  of  ways,  and,  in  fact, 
should  be,  both  in  order  to  gain  it  admission  into  more 
minds  than  oue  mode  would  secure,  and  also  to  impress 
it  more  deeply.  In  fact,  little  by  little,  must  be  the 
motto  of  the  teacher  of  infants.  His  charge,  as  pointed 
out  long  ago,  are  like  narrow-necked  phials,  which  sub- 
jected to  a  continual  stream  receive  little  or  nothing, 
but  taking  in  drop  by  drop,  retain  and  fill. 

The  counterpart  of  religious  instruction  is  moral 
training.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  morality  may  exist 
without  religion.  That  is,  certain  moral  habits  may 
exist,  and  certain  moral  practices  obtain,  where  there 
is  no  pretence  to  religious  feeling,  and  no  reference  to 


112  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

religious  sanctions.  But  the  highest  morality,  nay,  it 
may  be  said  true  morality  does  not  exist  except  as  the 
fruit  of  religious  principle.  The  true  character  of  a 
practice,  habit,  or  principle  is  the  motive  from  which 
it  springs,  and  religion  recognises  those  acts  only  as 
moral  which  proceed  from  motives  such  as  God  approves. 
It  is  not  enough  that  the  act  is  one  that  God  sanctions 
or  commands,  its  performance  must  spring  from  the 
intention  to  do  His  will.  In  the  mselves,  therefore, 
religious  education  and  moral  training  cannot  be  disso- 
ciated if  we  would  have  the  latter  on  a  right  basis. 
Religious  education  is  a  sham  if  it  does  not  secure 
moral  results,  and  moral  training  will  prove  a  delusion 
if  it  is  not  founded  on  religious  sanctions.  There  can 
be  no  real  severance  between  religion  and  morality, — 
where  the  former  is  the  latter  must  be.  The  latter  in 
its  true  nature  cannot  be  where  the  other  is  not.  For 
neither  is  what  it  professes  to  be  without  the  other. 

This  is  the  ground  occupied  by  this  society.  "Morality 
is  that  practice  which  results  from  obedience  to  Chris- 
tian precepts  on  Christian  principles ;  the  application 
to  the  ordinary  events  and  duties  of  life  of  the  doc- 
trines and  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion.  Moral 
training  is  the  application  to  children  in  their  ordinary 
conduct,  in  the  schoolroom  and  playground,  of  the 
precepts  which  they  learn  from  the  Bible."  Moral 
training  thus  becomes  a  process  which  has  for  its  aim 
the  implanting  of  moral  principles  and  the  formation 
of  moral  habits,  under  the  sanctions  of  the  word  of 
God.  It  has,  consequently,  much  in  common  with, 
religious  instruction,  its  point  of  departure  being  the 
steps  taken  to  form  the  practice  and  the  habit. 


HOMK  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      113 

To  form  the  practice  and  habits,  attention  must  be 
given  to  the  springs  of  action.  To  attend  to  acts 
regardless  of  the  feelings  of  which  they  are  the  ex- 
pression, or  which  they  tend  to  excite,  would  be  to  miss 
the  central  point  in  moral  culture.  The  feelings  require 
attention.  Some  are  to  be  brought  under  control, 
others  have  to  be  strengthened,  and,  especially,  all  have 
to  be  regarded  in  reference  to  their  objects.  Feeling  is 
not  an  end.  It  exists  as  a  means.  It  is  an  incentive 
to  action.  As  a  feeling  does  or  does  not  find  issue  in 
action,  so  it  subserves  or  not  its  purpose  in  the  human 
economy.  Hence  the  feelings  demand  culture,  which 
culture  must  embrace  the  actions  allied  thereto.  If 
the  feelings  and  their  associated  actions  receive  proper 
attention,  the  result  is  the  formation  of  the  disposition, 
temper,  and  habits,  or,  in  a  word,  of  moral  character. 
The  importance  of  this  culture  is  acknowledged  by  this 
society.  At  an  early  period  some  of  its  officers  ex- 
pressed regret  that  the  same  success  had  not  attended 
their  work  here  as  in  other  points.  They  thought  that 
the  same  clear  results  should  be  expected  from  the 
culture  of  the  feelings  as  from  the  culture  of  the  intellect ; 
that  a  teacher  should  be  able  to  act  upon  a  feeling,  as 
compassion,  as  systematically  and  effectively  as  upon 
perception  or  judgment.  In  intellectual  education  it  is 
known  beforehand  what  effect  is  to  be  produced,  and 
the  nature  of  the  means  to  be  employed  to  produce  it. 
It  ought,  they  thought,  to  be  the  same  with  the  feelings. 
There  ought  to  be  just  as  clear  a  conception  of  the  end 
sought,  and  just  as  wise  an  adaptation  of  the  means. 
No  doubt  this  is  very  desirable,  and  perhaps  would  be 
attainable  if  our  knowledge  of  all  the  springs  of  action 
I 


114  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

in  their  thousandfold  complications  was  perfect,  and  oar 
control  of  all  the  circumstances  which  excite  or  modify 
them  complete. 

Two  or  three  considerations  may  be  offered  why  the 
same  success  is  not  to  be  expected  in  the  culture  of  the 
feelings  in  school  as  of  other  mental  or  of  physical 
powers.  First,  the  occasions  are  not  always  at  hand 
for  the  cultivation  of  any  particular  feeling.  In  the 
cultivation  of  intelligence,  the  means  may  be  extem- 
porized if  they  are  not  ready  at  hand,  but  it  is  not  so 
with  the  feelings.  It  is  true  that  occasions  as  they 
occur  may  be  seized,  and  as  Locke  says,  when  possible 
they  should  be  made,  but  in  many  cases  it  is  impossible. 
And  if  the  occasions  cannot  be  made,  systematic  culture 
cannot  be  had.  For  instance,  suppose  the  feeling  is 
compassion  :  the  proper  object  of  this  is  wretchedness, 
and  the  purpose  of  exciting  it  is  relief.  But  how  pro- 
vide the  exciting  cause  ?  It  may  be  said,  invent  it ; 
appeal  to  the  imagination  by  a  fiction.  Well,  we  might 
develop  the  feeling  in  this  way,  but  we  should  thwart 
our  purpose.  The  feeling  is  to  be  cultivated,  not  for 
itself,  but  for  the  action  to  which  it  prompts.  Where 
no  action  can  follow,  the  feeling  passes  into  the  phase 
of  sentiment,  and  a  moral  condition  is  induced,  the 
very  opposite  of  the  one  we  seek.  A  state  is  produced, 
in  which  distress  will  excite  no  condition  but  a  sickly 
sentimentality,  without  moving  a  finger  in  relief. 

Mistake  or  failure  has  not  the  same  significance  in  in- 
tellectual culture  as  in  moral.  The  intellect  is  not  neces- 
sarily injured  by  mistaken  action,  that  is  by  being 
exercised  on  improper  objects.  But  the  case  is  different 
with  the  moral  feelings.  Here  loss  is  all  but  irretriev- 


HOME   AND    COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      115 

able,  while  mistaken  action  is  doubtless  injurious,  ami 
may  be  fatal  to  moral  growth.  Sin  has  a  tendency  to 
perpetuate  itself.  Once  admitted  into  the  soul  the 
stain  remains.  The  mind,  astray  morally,  feels  the 
effect  of  it  ever  afterwards.  Hence  to  the  culture  of 
the  moral  feelings  there  are  obstacles  which  have  been 
created  by  former  states,  that  do  not  exist,  or  in  a  very 
limited,  and  certainly  not  in  an  insuperable  degree,  in 
intellectual  culture. 

Besides  this,  there  is  the  fact  of  original  depravity — 
that  disturbing  element  in  our  moral  system  which 
renders  repugnant  to  us  those  objects  of  the  feelings 
and  those  duties  connected  therewith  which  are  moral 
and  religious ;  and  to  this  may  be  added  the  constant 
recurrence  of  temptation  to  indulgences  by  the  enemy, 
which  are  destructive  of  all  right  feeling  and  action. 

In  this  condition  of  things  the  cultivation  of  the 
conscience  is  the  chief  corrective  of  failings  in  the 
culture  of  the  feelings.  The  office  of  conscience  being 
to  approve  or  disapprove  of  particular  states,  and  of 
the  actions  springing  therefrom,  its  culture  implies  that 
the  mind  is  informed  of  that  which  is  legitimate  and 
right,  so  that  it  may  have  a  standard  of  judgment,  and 
that  it  is  practised  continually  in  deciding  on  the  moral 
quality  of  feelings  and  actions,  both  personal  and  of 
others.  In  the  absence,  then,  of  a  perfect  scheme  of 
culture,  the  next  best  thing  in  our  power  is  to  give  to 
conscience  its  rightful  supremacy,  by  continually  fur- 
nishing cases  to  be  decided  by  the  standard  of  the 
divine  word.  Nor  are  the  elements  wanting  of  such 
a  culture.  Considering  the  position  of  a  child  in 
school,  the  opportunity  exists  of  placing  in  its  mind 


116  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

a  right  standard  on  such  important  points  as  justice, 
truth,  kindness,  self-denial,  and  so  on,  and  to  get  de- 
cisions of  the  conscience  in  respect  thereto  on  the  little 
incidents  arising  out  of  its  daily  life. 

A  great  difficulty  in  moral  culture  is  in  the  child 
itself,  arising  from  the  emotions  of  self  having  heen 
injudiciously  stimulated  in  its  earlier  years.  To  so  great 
an  extent  is  this  sometimes  carried  by  those  in  charge 
of  it,  that  the  child  concentrates  its  regards  on  itself, 
and  only  considers  its  actions  as  they  may  affect  itself. 
The  corrective  is,  early  to  divert  the  attention  of  the 
child  to  the  effects  of  its  actions  on  others.  It  must 
get  into  the  habit  of  recognising  that  its  own  claims  in 
every  case  are  limited  and  modified  by  the  claims  of 
others.  Supposing  this  to  be  effected,  it  will  be  com- 
paratively easy  to  establish  a  high  standard  of  feeling 
and  practice  in  such  things  as  honesty  and  truthfulness, 
and  to  save  from  those  things  which  proceed  from  utter 
regard  lessness  of  the  feelings,  wishes,  or  rights  of 
others. 

Moral  instruction,  culture  of  the  feelings,  andworking 
against  the  emotions  of  self,  require  practice  of  moral 
duty  as  that  which  gives  each  its  force  in  moral  training. 
Those  are  introductory  to  this.  "  See,"  says  Miss 
Mayo,  "  that  they  not  only  acknowledge  the  principle, 
but  that  they  carry  it  out  in  practice,  for  it  is  essential, 
besides  awakening  feelings  and  instilling  principles,  to 
cultivate  moral  habits,  and  habits  are  formed  by  the 
frequent  repetition  of  an  action."  So  again  Mr.  Dun- 
ning :  "  The  child's  character  is  very  much  in  the 
hands  of  the  teacher,  but  then  more  must  be  done  than 
mere  teaching.  ....  Education  contemplates 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       117 

the  formation  of  character.  But  how  is  character 
formed  ?  Much  of  it  by  training,  not  teaching.  A 
teacher  cannot  lecture  a  child  into  good  manners,  or 
change  habits  of  any  kind  by  the  longest  speech.  The 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  habits  are  only  changed 
by  a  repetition  of  doings,  and  it  is  in  these  doings  that 
training  consists.  Action  is  the  parent  of  power." 

The  course  of  moral  instruction  should  be  both  inci- 
dental and  formal.  The  incidents  of  the  schoolroom, 
playground,  and  street  should  be  made  use  of  to  illus- 
trate moral  truths  and  to  obtain  moral  decisions.  But 
these  occur  too  irregularly  to  be  relied  on  altogether. 
The  instruction  should  come  at  fixe.d  intervals  and 
follow  a  well-defined  course.  This  Society  recommends 
a  course  of  three  stages,  each  stage  having  a  special 
purpose,  given  subjects,  and  its  own  mode  of  treatment. 
"  In  the  first  step  the  object  is  to  awaken  the  moral 
sense,  to  cultivate  right  feelings,  and  to  form  good 
habits  :  leading  the  children  to  determine  w  hat  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong,  and  preparing  them  for  the  recep- 
tion of  religious  impressions.  The  lessons  should  em- 
brace kindness  and  love  of  parents  and  teachers  so  as 
to  awaken  affection,  the  little  griefs  and  joys  of  their 
companions  so  as  to  excite  sympathy,  and  so  on.  The 
plan  in  giving  the  lesson  is  to  lead  the  children  to  t.dk 
about  the  various  actions  that  fall  under  their  notice, 
with  a  view  to  form  their  moral  sense  and  cultivate 
right  feelings,  and  to  make  a  very  simple  application 
to  themselves.  In  the  second  step  the  object  is  to 
enable  them  to  distinguish,  appreciate,  and  name  moral 
qualities.  The  subjects  embrace  dutias  to  parents, 
teachers,  brothers  and  sisters,  their  companions,  the 


118  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

aged,  the  property  of  others,  and  so  on.  The  plan  is 
to  lead  them  by  observation  on  their  own  conduct  and 
disposition,  or  the  conduct  and  disposition  of  others, 
to  form  clear  conceptions  of  moral  qualities  ;  or  the 
teacher  is  to  give  some  examples  of  the  exercise  of  a 
moral  quality,  and  the  children  decide  what  it  is,  and 
learn  how  it  is  to  be  called.  They  also  tell  how  they 
can  exemplify  the  quality  under  consideration,  and  de- 
termine whether  it  would  be  right  or  wrong.  In  the 
third  step  the  object  is  to  cultivate  a  quick  perception 
and  nice  discrimination  of  moral  feelings,  and  to  teach 
the  terms  by  which  they  are  expressed.  The  subjects 
of  instruction  to  be  drawn  from  historical  facts,  fables, 
poetry,  the  playground,  and  proverbs.  The  story  to 
be  narrated,  the  children  to  determine  the  merit  or 
demerit  of  the  parties  spoken  of,  and  the  kind  and 
degree  of  faults  mentioned  in  the  story,  and  to  state 
what  would  be  their  own  duty  in  similar  circum- 
stances. 

The  principle  on  which  these  lessons  are  conducted 
is  to  take  something  as  a  starting-point  from  the  child's 
experience,  or  that  has  come  under  its  observation. 
"  The  rule  is  the  same,"  says  Mr.  Eeynolds,  "  in  moral 
as  in  intellectual  education.  We  must  start  from 
what  is  within  the  child's  own  experience.  We  must 
not  talk  to  it  of  great  sacrifices  of  life  or  fortune,  but 
of  the  little  incidents  that  occur  in  the  schoolroom 
or  playground,  in  which  either  good  or  bad  conduct  is 
exhibited.  If  we  bring  an  object  before  a  child,  that 
it  may  by  degrees  be  led  to  acquire  clear  ideas  on  the 
various  properties  of  matter,  so  we  must  bring  actions 
that  he  has  witnessed  before  him,  that  he  may  be  led 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      119 

to  form  right  notions  of  moral  qualities ;  to  determine 
for  himself  which  are  good  and  which  are  bad;  to  trace 
the  motives  and  dispositions  which  lead  him  to  certain 
actions ;  and  thus  prepare  him  to  see  and  appreciate 
the  Christian  principles  by  which  he  should  be  regu- 
lated." 

The  power  of  the  teacher's  example  must  not  be 
overlooked.  "  One  of  the  most  powerful  auxiliaries  in 
the  cultivation  of  character,"  says  Miss  Mayo,  "  is  the 

/  «/  •/        7 

force  of  example  ;  children  not  only  imitate  what  those 
around  them  do  and  say,  but  involuntarily  acquire  their 
habits  and  manners."  It  should  never  be  absent  from 
the  teacher's  mind  that  example  is  stronger  than  pre- 
cept, and  he  should  fortify  himself  with  those  con- 
siderations that  show  why  it  is  so.  Amongst  others, 
four  have  special  claims  on  his  remembrance.  Example 
is  stronger  than  precept  because  it  conveys  truth  to 
the  mind  better  than  precept  does.  Often  the  precept 
is  but  a  form  of  words  until  embodied  in  an  example. 
The  action  conveys  to  the  mind  what  the  precept  did 
not.  The  truth  now  stands  forth  in  strong  light,  so 
that  there  is  no  mistake  as  to  it.  Here  example  has 
the  same  value  as  an  experiment  in  physical  science,  or 
as  a  construction  in  geometry.  It  exhibits  and  conveys 
to  the  mind  the  meaning  underlying  the  words.  Again, 
example  is  stronger  than  precept  because  it  makes  the 
impression  that  the  precept  is  obligatory.  Where  the 
precept  is  understood,  nothing  will  so  strongly  recom 
mend  it  as  obligatory  as  seeing  another  submit  to  it, 
especially  if  the  other  is  an  adult,  and  placed  in  so 
apparently  irresponsible  a  position  as  a  master  is. 
Children  cannot  but  feel,  if  a  man  consistently  does  a 


120  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

right  thing,  that  he  feels  its  obligation  upon  him,  and 
especially  so  if  they  see  it  under  strong  temptations 
to  the  contrary.  But  suppose  the  case  where  a  man's 
example  is  not  according  to  his  precept,  then  the 
children  must  feel  that,  whatever  he  may  say,  he  cannot 
helieve  in  its  obligation.  If  he  says,  "You  will  find  it 
better  to  do  as  I  say  than  as  I  do,"  they  will  think  him 
either  a  fool  or  a  knave  —  a  fool  in  neglecting  to  do  what 
he  says  interests  him  so  nearly,  a  knave  in  pressing 
upon  others  what  he  does  not  do  himself.  Again, 
example  is  stronger  than  precept  because  of  the  force 
with  which  sympathy  and  imitation  silently  mould  the 
character.  By  sympathy  we  place  ourselves  in  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  assume  the  feelings  and  actions  of 
those  around  us.  This  is  a  force  more  or  less  at  work 
on  us  continually.  We  do  not  resist  except  consciously. 
That  is,  sympathy  will  operate  unless  we  voluntarily 
and  strenuously  resist  it.  But  in  the  case  of  ordinary 
example,  and  especially  by  children,  there  is  no  thought 
of  resisting ;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  often  a  great 
deal  of  interest,  and  sympathy  at  once  awakes.  And 
in  those  cases  where  sympathy  is  impossible,  there  is  a 
strong  imitative  propensity,  and  the  child  copies  the 
teacher.  Finally,  example  is  stronger  than  precept 
because  in  cases  of  emergency,  when  called  on  to  act 
at  once,  it  is  the  example  that  occurs  to  the  mind,  and 
not  the  precept ;  and  if  it  be  the  example  of  a  father 
or  a  teacher,  its  force  is  irresistible. 

Moral  training  has  a  branch  that  is  too  often  con- 
sidered as  something  distinct  from  it.  School  disci- 
pline is  often  regarded  as  merely  obtaining  order  and 
securing  attention  to  work.  But  others,  taking  a  wider 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      121 

view  of  their  duties,  regard  it  as  obligatory  upon  them  to 
do  what  they  can  to  form  in  their  pupils  arightcharacter. 
With  these,  discipline  is  a  system  of  means  for  enforcing 
right  conduct,  of  correcting  bad  habits,  of  lessening  the 
force  of  evil  tempers  and  dispositions,  and  of  eradicating 
anything  that  would  be  injurious  to  the  moral  and 
intellectual  growth  of  the  child. 

Discipline  with  such  aims,  is  supposed  to  have  its 
sphere  in  the  juvenile  rather  than  in  the  infant  school. 
And  this  is  the  fact;  the  province  of  the  infant  school 
is  to  prevent  rather  than  cure.  Or  if  evil  exists  either  in 
habit  or  bias,  to  uproot  or  change  by  forming  other  and 
better  habits,  or  giving  another  direction  to  the  feel- 
ings and  conduct.  In  this  view  the  whole  course  of 
infant  school  training  is  disciplinary.  Exercises 
adopted  for  other  purposes  are  in  fact  great  moral 
forces.  Thus  manual  exercises,  intended  for  physical 
relief  or  benefit,  have  a  direct  influence  in  forming  the 
habit  of  obedience,  and  of  establishing  the  teacher's 
authority.  The  march,  the  clap,  the  rising  and  sitting 
at  command,  the  loud  shout,  the  low  whisper,  the 
sudden  silence,  the  cessation  of  all  employment  for  a 
few  minutes,  these  all  help  to  establish  conditions 
highly  favourable  for  more  direct  moral  agencies. 

This  being  the  case,  the  attention  of  this  Society  was 
given  to  the  more  direct  means  of  moral  training  as 
belonging  especially  to  the  sphere  of  infant  culture, 
and  not  to  those  practices  and  expedients  which  are 
found  necessary  at  an  older  age.  Yet,  even  in  infants' 
schools,  evils  are  sometimes  found,  which  the  common 
course  does  not  eradicate  nor  prevent.  In  such  cases 
other  means  must  be  resorted  to,  and  we  are  now  to 


122  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

inquire  what  are  those  practised  or  recommended  by 
the  officers  of  this  Society. 

Authority,  the  right  to  command,  and  if  necessary 
to  enforce  obedience,  and  also  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  right  in  the  practices  of  those  subject  to  it,  is 
essential  to  discipline.  One  of  the  first  things,  if  not 
the  first,  that  a  teacher  has  to  work  for,  is  the  establish- 
ment of  his  authority.  Until  this  is  effected,  the 
influences  on  his  children  must  be  wayward  and 
capricious,  and  their  progress,  morally  and  intellec- 
tually, fitful  and  hap  hazard.  It  is  not  of  speedy 
growth.  To  be  lasting,  authority  must  be  based  on 
influence,  and  on  the  ascendency  of  the  teacher's  moral 
and  intellectual  character.  But  this  cannot  be  attained 
at  once.  At  first  the  teacher  and  child  are  strangers, 
and  authority  cannot  exist.  It  is  true  that  the  child, 
introduced  into  the  sphere  of  its  influence,  is  affected 
by  the  tone  of  his  companions,  and  is  predisposed  to 
submit;  but  the  personal  ascendency  of  the  teacher 
must  be  a  growth,  and  comparatively  a  slow  one.  The 
means  to  be  taken  is  to  acquire  influence,  and  this 
cannot  be  but  by  studying  the  characteristics  of  children, 
and  adapting  the  treatment  thereto.  "  Those  who  wish 
to  govern  by  influence,  not  by  force,  who  desire  to  govern 
children  by  means  of  their  will  and  not  against  it," 
must  make  them  their  study.  "  Authority,"  says  Mr. 
Dunning,  "  unquestioned  and  unlimited  authority,  is 
the  aim,  and  the  means  to  be  made  use  of  is  influence. 
In  studying  the  characteristics  of  child- 
hood, in  order  to  secure  an  abiding  influence  over  them, 
there  are  two  aspects  in  which  they  present  themselves, 
which  must  both  be  taken  into  account  in  order  to  be 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       123 

successful :  the  one  is,  in  the  general  and  prominent 
features  of  a  child's  character ;  and  the  other  is,  the 
special  peculiarities  of  its  disposition.  Now,  in  order 
to  gain  ascendency  over  children  in  general,  we  have 
only  to  attend  to  a  few  points.  First,  children  delight 
in  the  exercise  of  their  opening  faculties  both  of  mind 
and  body  ;  next,  they  have  a  strong  desire  for  informa- 
tion ;  thirdly,  they  love  those  who  sympathize  with 
them  and  aid  them  in  attaining  their  objects;  and 
fourthly,  they  have  a  strong  tendency  to  catch  the 
spirit  and  imitate  the  action  of  those  they  love.  It 
follows  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  exercise  the  various 
faculties  judiciously  and  at  proper  times  ;  to  present  new 
facts  and  new  objects  in  great  variety,  though  not  too 
rapidly  ;  to  sympathize  with  and  assist  them  in  all 
their  little  movements  and  lawful  desires  ;  and,  lastly, 
to  show  in  our  own  walk  a  steady,  upright  conduct,  and 
the  work  is  done,  they  are  our  bondsmen.  But  in 
addition  to  this  we  must  study  the  child  sui  generis. 
What  are  his  peculiarities  ?  what  feelings  are  strong, 
what  weak  ?  what  habits  has  he  acquired  ?  what  are 
his  likings  and  dislikings?  Such  points  being  as- 
certained, the  teacher  will  be  well  prepared  to  begin  his 
work.  Begin  gradually,  and  try  your  authority  over 
the  child  on  little  points." 

But  it  is  not  merely  the  establishment  of  his  own 
authority,  but  regard  for  authority  in  general  that  must 
bo  the  teacher's  aim.  This  obtained,  that  will  be 
secured.  This  may  be  by  giving  great  prominence  to 
the  claims  of  law  and  rule  ;  the  teacher  showing  by  his 
own  conduct  that  he  acknowledges  the  authority  of 
law.  It  may  be  furthered  by  bis  conduct  to  the 


124  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

managers  of  his  school.  It  does  not  do  for  one  who 
•wishes  to  reign  by  moral  force  to  act  Dr.  Busby  to  his 
managers  and  employers.  The  relation  between  the 
teacher  and  manager  is  not  unknown,  and  the  children 
cannot  but  be  favourably  impressed  by  proper  deference 
on  the  part  of  the  former  to  the  wishes  of  the  latter. 
It  may  also  be  promoted  by  the  mode  of  his  intercourse 
with  their  parents.  Treatment  of  them  with  proper 
respect,  because  they  are  his  children's  parents,  will 
strengthen  the  regard  for  their  authority,  and  conse- 
quently for  the  authority  of  the  master. 

Punishment  is  a  point  of  great  moment  in  school 
discipline.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom  that 
there  can  be  no  government  where  there  is  no  punish- 
ment. It  cannot  be  but  that  offences  wiU  some,  and 
these  must  be  dealt  with  to  prevent  their  repetition, 
and  to  produce  a  moral  impression  against  evil  on  the 
•witnesses.  Still  it  is  to  be  said  that  "  a  school  is  good 
or  bad  according  to  the  frequency  of  the  cases  de- 
manding punishment.  In  a  good  school  they  are 
seldom  required.  Where  they  frequently  occur  the 
school  is  a  bad  one,  and  the  master  unfit  for  his  po- 
sition Especially  is  this  true  when  the  mode  of 
punishment  is  the  infliction  of  bodily  pain."  In  ex- 
tenuation it  may  be  admitted  that  a  master  thus  acting 
has  a  strong  temptation  to  do  so  amidst  the  many 
claims  on  his  attention,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
force  may  accomplish  the  immediate  end  sooner  than 
other  means ;  but  still  no  one  who  looks  merely  at  pre- 
sent effects,  careless  of  future  results,  can  be  considered 
as  fit  to  be  entrusted  with  the  education  of  the  young. 

It  will  ever  be  the  aim  of  the  good  schoolmaster  so 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      125 

to  order  his  measures  as  to  prevent  the  necessity  of 
punishments.  Attention  to  moral  training,  finding 
employment  for  the  activity  of  children,  giving  free 
scope  to  their  natural  characteristics,  and  banishing 
absurd  restraints,  will  lessen  the  occasions  for  punish- 
ment. "  You  will  wish  to  know,"  says  Mr.  Ogle,  "  by 
what  means  severe  punishments  may  be  prevented.  I 
arrange  the  means  under  two  heads — mental  and 

moral There  is   in  the   child  a  love  of 

employment  for  its  own  sake,  and  if  you  do  not  spoil 
the  child  you  will  have  him  doing  much  that  you 
wish,  simply  because  he  loves  to  be  employed  ;  and  if 
you  manage  well  he  will  take  such  pleasure  in  working 
as  to  have  but  little  disposition  to  be  idle.  In  every 
case  in  which  the  child  is  punished  for  not  doing 
something  that  he  ought  to  have  done  in  the  way  of 
mental  exercise,  the  teacher  is  more  or  less  to  blame. 
There  is  also  implanted  in  us  a  love  of  knowledge,  a 
pleasure  in  knowing  what  was  not  known  before.  You 
will  find  that  a  child  evidently  has  pleasure  in  receiving 
knowledge ;  he  not  only  feels  a  pleasure  in  the  employ- 
ment given  him  while  gaining  knowledge,  but  he  loves 
the  knowledge  he  gains.  Here,  then,  is  a  love  of 
employment  and  a  love  of  knowledge  to  aid  the  teacher. 
Surely,  then,  we  have  here  two  great  means  of  pre- 
venting punishment Among  the  moral 

means  of  preventing  punishment  are,  first,  a  certain 
personal  weight  with  the  children.  Some  persons 
never  have  this,  but  they  have  themselves  to  blame  for 
the  want  of  it,  and  if  they  cannot  acquire  it  they  may 
as  well  give  up  all  attempts  to  be  a  teacher.  Apart 
from  every  other  motive  in  a  child's  mind,  this  almost 


126  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

insures  success.  The  teacher  prevails  by  a  sort  of 
weight,  with  which  his  influence  presses,  so  to  speak, 
on  the  minds  of  the  children.  Every  human  being 
has  a  certain  weight  with,  and  exerts  a  force  upon 
others.  We  may  wish  to  do  a  thing ;  but  a  certain 
person  is  opposed  to  it — he  is  like  a  solid  block  in  our 
way,  and  we  cannot  make  up  our  minds  to  act  against 
his  wishes.  He  has  expressed  his  disapprobation,  and 
though,  perhaps,  he  cannot  affect  us  in  any  degree,  we 
do  not  like  to  act  against  it.  We  hardly  reason  on  the 
matter  ;  a  mere  sensation  is  produced,  and  this  rules  us. 
It  is  very  easy  to  have  this  personal  weight  with 
children.  It  is  not  always  out  of  love  to  you  that  they 
say,  '  I  cannot  do  so  because  teacher  does  not  like  it.' 
It  is  not  always  out  of  fear  of  punishment,  but  because 
the  teacher  is  a  great  person  in  the  child's  estimation. 
There  is  a  certain  sense  of  power  and  authority  in  the 
human  mind,  and  if  we  act  on  it,  we  shall  prevent 
much  insubordination,  and  so  prevent  much  punish- 
ment. Another  means  of  preventing  punishment  is 
in  the  many  little  bonds  which  may  be  formed  during 
the  personal  intercourse  between  the  teacher  and 
children,  in  which  the  children  receive  proofs  of  kind- 
ness and  sympathy,  and  to  which  they  yield  affection 
and  liking.  Another  means  of  preventing  those  mis- 
deeds which  call  for  pains  and  penalties  is  to  be  our- 
selves what  we  would  have  our  children  to  be.  This 
is  a  single  rule  containing  a  great  quantity  of  momen- 
tous truth.  Do  you  wish  the  children  to  be  free  from 
irritability,  petulance,  and  peevishness  1  You  must  be 
so  yourselves.  Do  you  wish  them  to  be  interested  in 
the  lessons  so  as  to  profit  by  them  ?  Then  you  must 


HOME   AND  COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      127 

ehow  that  you  are  interested  in  giving  them,  that  you 
know  what  the  application  is  yourselves.  Do  you  wish 
them  to  be  respectful  to  their  superiors,  and  deferential 
to  their  equals,  their  schoolfellows  and  playmates? 
Then  you  must  be  respectful  to  your  superiors,  and 
exhibit  a  kind  and  courteous  demeanour  to  all.  Without 
your  example  they  will  disregard  your  precept." 

Still,  occasions  will  arise  in  which  punishments  must 
be  inflicted.  Then  it  becomes  necessary  to  regard  the 
spirit  in  which  they  are  administered.  Punishment 
should  not  be  vengeance  looking  back  on  the  past,  but 
hope  and  love  looking  forward  to  the  future.  The 
measure  of  punishment,  too,  must  be  determined  by 
the  character  of  the  offender,  and  not  of  the  offence, 
for  it  is  the  child's  recovery  that  is  sought,  and  not  the 
expiation  of  his  fault.  The  punishment,  too,  must 
vary,  according  to  the  temperament  and  disposition  of 
the  child.  Hence  a  teacher  requires  the  same  kind  of 
skill  as  a  physician,  who  reads  in  his  patient's  face  the 
specific  measures  his  disease  requires.  The  teacher  is 
dealing  with  moral  diseases,  and  it  is  as  absurd  to  apply 
one  method  to  every  child,  as  it  would  be  to  prescribe 
one  measure  for  every  patient.  "  A  frown  will  act  on 
one,  separation  from  companions  another,  neglect  and 
coldness  a  third,  public  rebuke  a  fourth,  approbation 
of  a  companion  a  fifth,  a  whipping  a  sixth."  The 
same  analogy  will  show  us  the  folly  of  expecting 
instantaneous  cures.  Sudden  reform  is  suspicious. 
Deep-seated  and  long  continued  disease  cannot  be  got 
rid  of  in  a  moment.  The  teacher  has  no  more  right  to 
expect  instant  cure  than  a  physician  would  in  a  case  of 
complicated  disease.  In  both  cases  the  treatment  is 


128  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

little  by  little  ;  the  progress  of  the  cure  gradual.  Con- 
tinuous effort,  then,  is  demanded  from  the  teacher; 
and  punishment,  when  inflicted,  must  not  he  to  save 
the  teacher  from  annoyance,  but  to  restore  the  child  to 
soundness  and  health. 

Punishment  should  be  a  consequence  following  mis- 
conduct, and  not  the  prospect  of  it  an  inducement  to 
do  well.  Hence  threatening  should  be  abstained  from. 
"If  you  tell  a  boy,  '  If  you  do  so  and  so  I  will  punish 
you,'  you  take  it  for  granted  at  the  outset  that  the  child 
is  disposed  to  disobey.  You  should  take  it  for  granted 
that  he  is  disposed  to  obey.  The  fact  is  children  are, 
in  many  respects,  predisposed  to  obey.  There  are  the 
bit  and  the  reins,  and  you  have  only  to  take  care  how 
you  use  them.  If  you  menace  before  any  offence  is 
committed,  you  tempt  the  child  'to  try  whether  you 
will  really  keep  your  word,  and  you  introduce  into  his 
mind  the  thought  of  doing  a  thing  he  perhaps  had 
no  idea  of  doing.  You  will  find  menaces  produce  ill- 
will,  and  tempt  the  child  to  do  the  very  thing  you  wish 
him  not  to  do." 

Punishments  should  be  light.  If  they  are  severe, 
offences  will  be  frequently  overlooked,  arid  evil  will 
increase.  Where  they  are  light  there  will  be  freedom 
for  promptness  in  their  infliction.  It  is  the  certainty 
of  punishment,  not  its  severity,  that  is  the  most  power- 
ful check  in  wrong-doing. 

On  the  treatment  of  obstinate  children  we  have  the 
following  remarks  by  Mr.  Ogle: — "Avoid  bringing  the 
obstinacy  into  action.  Every  sentiment,  faculty  and 
habit  is  strengthened  by  exercise ;  consequently,  when- 
ever obstinacy  is  brought  into  exercise  it  is  strengthened. 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.       129 

The  apostle  Paul  says,  'Fathers,  provoke  not  your  chil- 
dren to  wrath/  showing  us  that  children  may  be  irritated 
till  they  do  wrong,  that  the  mischief  may  be  begun,  for 
instance,  by  the  teacher.  It  may  be  asked,  How  can 
we  avoid  the  provocation  to  obstinacy  in  a  child  7  I 
answer,  by  habitually  endeavouring  to  keep  up  in  its 
mind  that  state  of  feeling  which  leaves  it  without  incli- 
nation to  come  into  collision  with  you.  Endeavour  by 
your  own  gentleness,  kindness,  good  humour,  and  pla- 
cidity to  produce  and  promote  the  same  feelings  in  the 
child.  There  is  a  kind  of  moral  contagion  among  hu- 
man beings  ;  we  catch  the  spirit  and  temper  of  others 
around  us;  we  are  subject  to  that  involuntary  entertain- 
ment of  the  feelings  of  others  which  is  properly  called 
sympathy.  Teachers  know  this  by  experience.  If  you 
enter  your  schoolroom  with  a  countenance  betraying 
anxiety  and  sadness,  though  you  say  not  a  word,  you 
will  find  that  the  buzz  is  hushed,  inquiring  looks  meet 
you  on  every  side,  and  soon  a  vague  sense  of  distress  is 
seen  in  almost  every  countenance.  This  peculiarity  of 
our  moral  constitution  Q-od  has  ordained  for  wise  and 
good  ends.  Wnen  the  minds  which  act  on  each  other 
are  influenced  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  their  mutual  in- 
fluence produces  the  most  beneficial  results.  Exhibit, 
then,  on  all  occasions  towards  your  children  the  same 
dispositions  which  you  would  have  them  evince  ;  and 
with  respect  to  the  obstinate  child,  in  particular,  strive 
to  foster  gentle  and  kindly  feelings  in  him  by  exhibit- 
ing them  towards  him. 

Besides  this,  however,  we  must  carefully  cultivate  all 
other  sentiments  which,  being  good  in  themselves,  are 
opposed  to  an  evil  disposition.     And  here,  too,  let  the 
K 


130  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

beneficial  influence  of  your  example  aid  the  force  of 
your  precepts.  Establish  a  regard  for  authority,  for 
authority  in  general,  as  such,  not  for  your  own  merely  ; 
if  you  bring  your  pupil  to  respect  and  submit  to 
authority  in  general,  he  will  regard  yours  in  particular 
as  a  necessary  consequence.  Especially  let  that  intui- 
tive sense  of  right  and  wrong  with  which  man  is 
endowed  be  constantly  appealed  to  ;  let  it  be  strength- 
ened by  exercise.  We  are  too  apt  to  forget  that  the 
moral  feelings  as  well  as  the  intellectual  faculties  and 
bodily  powers  may  be,  and  need  to  be,  systematically 
exercised  ;  that,  whenever  used,  they  become  the  more 
ready  for  use  again  ;  and  that  by  performing  acts  we 
form  habits.  Thus  conscience  enlightened  by  the  word 
of  God,  may  be  so  disciplined,  in  early  life,  as  to  be- 
come by  the  Divine  blessing  habitually  tender  and 
ready  to  act.  If  so  cultivated,  along  with  other  moral 
feelings,  the  temptation  to  obstinacy  will  often  be 
resisted,  or  the  offence,  when  committed,  will  be 
repented  of  and  shunned  thereafter. 

But  it  will  not  be  enough-  to  cherish  right  feelings 
which  may  counteract  the  obstinate  disposition ;  we 
must  aim  to  remove  all  occasion  for  its  outbreak.  To 
this  end,  let  the  rules  of  your  school  be  evidently  just 
and  reasonable  ;  as  few  as  practicable,  and  easy  to  be 
understood  ;  let  your  conduct  be  consistent  and  decided  ; 
let  it  be  known  habitually  that  your  will  must  be  done 
or  that  the  punishment  you  threaten  will  be,  inflicted ; 
bear  yourself  as  if  you  scarcely  supposed  that  dis- 
obedience would  occur,  for  if  we  seem  to  expect  it  we 
often  call  it  forth.  Acting  thus  you  will  leave  as  little 
opportunity  and  ground  as  possible  for  the  occur- 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       131 

rence  of  those  scenes  which  most  commonly  lead  to  a 
display  of  obstinacy. 

By  all  these  means,  then,  avoid  collision  with  an 
obstinate  child.  But  if,  in  spite  of  all  your  precaution 
and  provision  for  better  things,  collision  is  forced  upon 
you,  for  the  sake  of  the  offender,  and  of  the  discipline 
of  the  school  in  general,  you  must  enter  on  the  struggle. 
In  carrying  it  on,  again  take  Scripture  for  your  guide. 
The  apostle  who  forbids  fathers  to  provoke  children  to 
wrath,  adds,  "  Be  not  bitter  against  them  ;  "  and  in 
another  place  says  to  Christians,  "  Let  all  bitterness, 
and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamour,  be  put  away  from 
you."  "  Bitterness."  Let  the  meaning  of  the  word 
be  weighed,  and  we  shall  surely  not  be  slow  to  shun 
the  thing  it  means.  To  abstain  from  it  is  certainly  the 
duty  of  a  Christian  teacher,  and  never  is  he  more  to  be 
on  his  guard  against  it  than  when  endeavouring  to 
overcome  the  obstinacy  of  a  child.  If  a  little  offender 
withstand  you,  he  must,  on  no  account,  become 
triumphant ;  you  must  be  master.  But  let  neither 
look  nor  tone  nor  word  express  bitterness  ;  because  it 
is  both  wrong  in  itself,  and  will  hinder  the  accomplish- 
ment of  your  purpose.  Remember  once  again  your 
feelings  will  influence  him  ;  beware  that  bis  do  not 
influence  you.  Let  no  bitterness  on  your  part  embitter 
his  resentment.  If  you  would  control  and  conquer, 
you  must  show  the  dignity  of  a  ruler,  not  the  fury  of 
a  tyrant ;  and  the  calmness  you  manifest  will  actually 
tend  to  restore  the  quiet  of  the  culprit. 

This  struggle  ought  not  to  take  place  in  the  presence 
of  other  children.  Many,  from  a  good  moral  bias, 
will  sympathize  with  you  ;  many,  on  the  other  hand, 


132  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

will  feel  with  their  class-fellow.  You  will  see  little 
lips  compressed,  and  little  bosoms  swelling  with 
emotions  which  none  dare  utter  ;  thus  the  order  of  the 
school  is  endangered.  Whenever  it  is  possible,  there- 
fore, withdraw  on  such  an  occasion  to  a  separate  room 
or  to  the  playground." 

Other  modes  of  influencing  children  are  by  rewards 
and  praise.  Eewards  are  considered  unnecessary  and 
injurious.  A  reward  may  be  considered  as  having  a 
certain  intrinsic  value,  and  as  being  a  badge  of  dis- 
tinction and  pre-eminence.  Now  a  reward  certainly 
ought  not  to  be  proposed  for  the  sake  of  its  intrinsic 
value.  There  is  that  in  the  heart  of  every  child  which 
if  fully  developed  becomes  covetousness.  This  sense 
of  property  and  love  of  possession  in  general,  need  no 
increase ;  on  the  contrary,  •  there  is  constant  need  to 
repress  the  greedy  desire  of  gain,  a  desire  which  often 
becomes  a  ruling  passion  and  the  source  of  ruin  to  its 
subject.  Nor  should  a  reward  be  offered  as  a  mark  of 
superiority.  Thus  proposed,  the  feeling  which  is 
appealed  to  is  made  the  motive  of  exertion.  Love  of 
approbation  is  in  itself  a  pleasurable  feeling,  but  no  one 
should  seek  it  for  that  pleasure  no  more  than  he  should 
eat  simply  for  the  gratification  experienced  in  the  act. 
Love  of  approbation  is  a  natural  feeling,  and  exists  in 
sufficient  force  as  an  ordinary  motive  without  being 
unduly  strengthened  by  constant  appeals  to  it.  In- 
judiciously stimulated,  it  is  apt  to  become  a  ruling 
motive,  and  when  it  is  so  the  chances  are  that  it  will 
be  a  power  for  evil  rather  than  good.  For  its  power 
either  way  will  depend  on  the  character  of  the  persons 
whose  approval  is  sought.  If  that  is  frivolous  or  evil, 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL  SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      133 

it  is  likely  that  the  acts  done  for  the  sake  of  their 
approbation  will  be  of  like  kind.  Besides  there  can  be 
no  steadiness  of  character  or  pursuit  where  this  is  the 
motive  of  conduct.  For  this  will  take  its  force  and 
direction,  not  from  any  established  conviction,  but 
from  the  persons  with  whom  the  individual  may 
happen  to  be  associated. 

It  is  further  held  that  rewards  are  wrong  in  prin- 
ciple. They  are  of  the  nature  of  bribes.  That  which 
should  be  required  and  enforced  as  a  duty  is  solicited 
for  the  sake  of  the  reward.  This  consideration  shows 
also  that  the  only  ground  on  which  they  can  be 
bestowed  is  the  doing  of  something  over  and  above 
what  was  the  child's  duty.  It  is  also  held  that  rewards 
make  punishments  necessary.  As  the  prospect  of 
rewards  only  influences  those  that  are  likely  to  be  suc- 
cessful, the  others,  who  would  have  worked  from 
ordinary  motives,  these  being  cast  aside,  becoming 
careless  and  idle,  need  punishment  to  get  them  to  work 
at  all. 

The  cultivation  of  the  intelligence,  though  "  con- 
sidered of  minor  importance  "  as  compared  with  phy- 
sical and  moral  training,  yet  received  more  elaborate 
attention  than  either  of  the  others.  This,  perhaps, 
was  due  to  the  nature  of  the  case,  as  the  defects  in 
infant  training  and  in  school  education  generally  were 
more  apparent  in  the  department  of  intellect  than  in 
the  others.  It  might  also  be  owing  partly  to  the 
forcing  process  which  yet  lingered  in  infant  schools 
— a  process  to  which  this  Society  may  be  said  to  have 
given  a  more  legitimate  direction  rather  than  to  have 
banished  from  infant  culture. 


134  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

Adopting  the  principles  of  Pestalozzi.  this  Society's 
work  was  rather  to  frame  a  method  for  their  application 
than  to  expound  them,  examine  their  soundness,  or 
ascertain  their  limits.  Hence  its  largest  gifts  to  infant 
training  are  its  elaborate  plans  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  senses.  It  is  true  that  they  speak  of  the  cultiva- 
tion, not  of  one,  but  of  all  the  intellectual  faculties. 
But  the  provision  by  this  Society  is  for  their  germ,  or 
rudimentary  condition  only.  Such  powers  as  concep- 
tion, memory,  sense  of  relation  and  analogy,  and  judg- 
ment are  brought  into  early  rudimentary  exercise  in 
connection  with  the  senses,  and  for  their  cultivation,  so 
far,  provision  is  made.  A  higher  or  more  advanced 
culture  — as  that  of  the  conceptive  faculty  and  sense  of 
analogy  advocated  by  Isaac  Taylor  and  practised  by 
Stow, — whether  thought  legitimate  or  not,  is  certainly 
not  attempted.  This  claim  to  have  provided  for  the 
cultivation  of  all  the  intellectual  faculties  can  be 
received  only  with  this  limited  interpretation.  In  fact, 
it  is  not  always  clear  what  is  understood  by  "  intellec- 
tual faculty."  Sometimes  it  would  seem  as  if  meant 
to  imply — with  the  phrenologists — that  a  difference  in 
the  object  or  in  the  organ,  indicates  a  different  intel- 
lectual power.  But  this  is  not  true.  Lessons  addressed 
to  the  touch  do  not  necessarily  differ  from  lessons  ad- 
dressed to  the  eye,  as  to  the  intellectual  faculty  exercised. 
There  is  a  difference  of  organ,  not  one  necessarily  of 
intellectual  power.  Every  mental  element  in  the  one 
act  may  be  precisely  that  in  the  other.  Of  course,  with 
a  variation  of  aim,  even  when  employing  the  same 
organ,  there  may  be  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the 
mental  act. 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL  SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      135 

Tu  give  employment  to  the  several  senses,  and  to 
bring  into  activity  each  intellectual  faculty  in  its  rudi- 
mentary state,  and  recognising  that  each  has  its  own 
place  in  the  order  of  development  and  activity,  courses 
of  instruction  were  prepared  in  a  variety  of  things. 
Besides  common  objects,  plants,  and  animals,  these 
courses  embraced  colour,  form,  size,  weight  and  place, 
physical  actions  and  employments,  the  human  body, 
drawing,  and  number.  The  following  remarks  indicate 
the  method.  The  instruction  should  be  carefully 
graduated,  rising  step  by  step  from  the  simplest  elements 
to  as  high  a  point  of  difficulty  as  may  be  presumed  to 
be  within  the  grasp  of  the  infant  mind.  Principles  and 
practices  should  be  presented  in  immediate  connection, 
so  as  to  illustrate  their  mutual  dependence.  All  details 
of  practice  should  flow  naturally  from  the  first  truths 
on  which  they  are  founded  The  general  object  should 
be  not  the  direct  impartatiou  of  knowledge,  but  rather 
the  cultivation  of  mental  powers  by  bringing  them  into 
healthy  exercise,  and  the  formation  thereby  of  valuable 
mental  habits.  It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  the 
subjects  are  to  go  on  side  by  side.  Variety  will  thus 
be  given,  and  diverse  powers  of  mind  be  simultaneously 
and  progressively  developed.  The  first  step  in  mental 
tuition  should  be  the  education  of  the  senses  and 
their  organs.  Where  this  is  judiciously  carried  out, 
the  mind  will  be  furnished  with  clear  and  distinct 
ideas,  without  the  risk  of  its  being  overstrained. 

"  The  office  of  the  senses,"  says  Miss  Mayo,  "is  to 
store  the  mind  with  ideas.  The  medium  must  be  by 
real  tangible  objects.  The  first  exercises  should  begin 
with  miscellaneous  objects,  though  not  altogether  with- 


136  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

out  arrangement,  as  a  definite  aim  ought  to  be  pro- 
posed in  every  lesson."  Object  lessons  hence  supply 
what  is  natural  for  the  child  to  learn.  An  infant's 
first  impressions  are  from  objects,  and  its  first  know- 
ledge about  them.  At  first  but  a  passive  recipient  of 
impressions,  he  soon  comes  to  take  an  active  part  in 
learning  their  various  qualities  This  goes  on  in  a 
desultory  way  all  through  infancy.  In  the  object 
lesson  this  natural  tendency  is  utilized,  and  the  child 
is  judiciously  and  systematically  directed  in  the  em- 
ployment of  its  senses.  Thus  object  lessons  educate 
the  senses, — they  stimulate  the  power  of  observation, 
and  they  help  to  form  the  habit  of  accurately  doing  so. 
Without  cultivation  obvious  qualities  often  escape 
notice,  and  a  superficial  mode  of  looking  at  things  is  the 
consequence. 

Object  lessons,  besides  cultivating  the  senses,  lay  up 
material  for  reflection.  This  latter  habit  is  always  the 
more  valuable  when  it  is  based  on  the  habit  of  obser- 
vation. Rightly  conducted,  a  habit  of  reflection  will 
be  cultivated  alongside  that  of  observation.  No  facts 
coming  under  the  cognizance  of  the  senses  are  isolated  ; 
all  are  related  to  others.  Some  of  these  facts  are 
obvious;  others  only  to  be  discovered  by  comparison,  ex- 
periment, or  other  modes  of  inquiry.  In  a  good  object 
lesson,  that  which  lies  immediately  under  observation 
will  be  used  as  a  stepping-stone  to  that  which  is  less 
apparent.  This  lays  the  foundation  of  reflection,  and 
to  a  habit  of  not  resting  in  the  superficial,  but  of 
tracing  out  connections  between  related  facts. 

Object  lessons  give  an  intelligent  use  of  language, 
and  add  to  its  stores.  The  idea  is  gained,  and  then 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.       137 

the  word  is  given.  Thus  the  idea  is  fixed,  and  the 
word  makes  it  readier  for  use.  And  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  ;  for  here  is  a  twofold  force  by  which  the  idea 
becomes  ready  for  use.  The  idea  has  its  associations 
with  others  had  previously  or  at  the  same  time,  and 
when  these  appear  that  will  appear  too  ;  but  attaching 
it  to  a  word  brings  in  the  physical  element  of  speech, 
and  here  is  another  though  mysterious  agent  for  re- 
calling the  idea  when  wanted,  and  for  employing  it. 
Words  thus  obtained  will  be  used  significantly,  and 
will  become  powers  for  further  observation  and  addi- 
tional acquisitions. 

The  method  of  these  lessons  must  be  that  of  stimu- 
lating the  children  to  discover  the  qualities  for  them- 
selves. The  teacher  must  not  come  as  it  were  between 
the  object  and  the  children,  by  his  language  or  mode 
of  dealing  with  it.  It  is  not  by  the  words  he  puts 
into  their  mouths,  but  by  the  tact  with  which  he 
stimulates  and  directs  their  senses,  that  the  purpose  of 
the  object  lesson  is  attained.  They  must  hear,  see, 
and  touch,  and  not  depend  for  the  facts  either  on  him 
or  their  companions.  This  is  a  point  requiring  con- 
stant care,  from  neglect  of  which  the  object  lesson  too 
often  degenerates  into  mere  word-stringing. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  lessons  be  given  in  a 
graduated  and  progressive  course.  The  age  of  the 
children  should  be  considered,  and  their  previous  op- 
portunities and  training.  As  a  first  step  with  young 
children,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  take  the  most  familiar 
objects,  to  distinguish  and  name  them,  to  elicit  their 
uses,  and  where  usually  seen.  A  second  step  would  be 
to  lead  to  the  perception  of  quality,  but  not  to  give  it 


138  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

,expression,  except  in  the  case  of  the  term  heing  familiar. 
As  a  further  advance  when  the  children  are  prepared 
for  it,  two  objects  should  be  introduced  as  subjects  of 
the  lesson ;  one  of  them  chosen  to  lead  to  the  obser- 
vation of  parts,  the  other  to  develop  some  striking  or 
characteristic  quality.  With  these  views  an  object  is 
presented,  having  distinct  and  well-defined  parts — as  a 
knife, —  that  the  children  may  discover  the  parts,  and 
learn  to  apply  the  correct  names ;  also  another  object 
is  chosen,  exhibiting  in  a  remarkable  degree  some  par- 
ticular quality — as  transparency  in  glass, — that  the 
idea  of  the  quality  may  be  developed.  As  a  test  that 
the  idea  has  been  gained,  the  children  are  to  find  ex- 
amples of  the  same  quality  in  other  objects.  At  this 
stage  the  children  may  be  aided  to  remember  what 
they  learn,  and  to  arrange  it  somewhat  methodically,  if 
the  first  letter  of  the  word  naming  a  part  or  a  quality 
is  written  on  the  black-board.  As  the  children  ad- 
vance in  power,  they  must  be  led  not  only  to  discover 
the  qualities  of  objects,  but  also  the  purpose  for  which 
they  fit  the  object.  .They  must  also  be  practised  in 
deciding  by  which  of  the  senses  they  have  become 
acquainted  with  a  quality,  and  what  organ  they  exer- 
cised. They  are  also  to  be  led  to  see  that  there  are 
some  qualities  not  recognised  by  the  senses,  but  only 
Known  from  experience  or  by  the  exercise  of  judgment. 
And  as  a  final  step,  they  are  to  be  led  to  compare 
objects,  to  discover  points  of  resemblance  or  dissi- 
milarity. 

During  this  course  the  children  as  early  as  possible 
should  be  set  to  write  on  slates  what  they  can  remember 
of  their  lessons, — a  practice  which  accomplishes  several 


HOME   AND  COLONIAL  SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      139 

go  id  purposes  :  it  is  a  motive  to  attention  ;  it  serves  to 
fix  the  ideas  in  the  mind  ;  it  accustoms  the  children 
to  orderly  arrangement  and  expression  ;  and  it  is  a 
good  exercise  in  spelling. 

It  is  recommended  that,  in  connection  with  the 
later  stages,  the  derivation  of  the  chief  terms  employed 
should  be  given  ;  hut  how  this  belongs  to  observation, 
or  tends  to  quicken  the  organs  of  sense,  or  comes 
within  the  province  of  intuition,  is  not  shown. 

Lessons  on  shells,  plants,  and  animals,  extend  the 
range  and  purpose  of  object  lessons.  Those  on  animals, 
especially,  have  all  the  advantages  of  such  lessons  en- 
hanced by  the  interest  they  awaken,  and  by  the  oppor- 
tunities they  give  of  comparison,  of  tracing  cause  and 
effect,  and  of  drawing  inferences  and  conclusions  from 
facts.  The  interest  such  lessons  excite  quickens  atten- 
tion, and  causes  observation  to  be  more  minute  and 
careful.  Such  lessons,  too,  have  a  moral  value  in  en- 
couraging feelings  of  kindness  and  in  preventing  cruelty, 
much  of  what  is  so  in  the  treatment  of  the  lower 
animals  by  children  being  the  offspring  of  ignorance. 
They  have  also  a  religious  value,  by  awakening  feelings 
of  admiration  and  reverence  under  the  manifestations 
of  wisdom  and  goodness  which  are  continually  made 
apparent  to  them. 

"The  right  principle,"  says  Mr.  Tegetmeier,  "to  be 
followed  in  lessons  on  animals  is  this, — lead  the  child- 
ren to  see  the  intimate  connection  between  the  habits 
of  an  animal,  its  propensities,  and  its  formation ;  how 
an  animal  is  so  formed  that  it  can  with  ease  procure 
the  food  necessary  to  its  existence,  and  also  the  wisdom 
of  God  in  adapting  its  different  organs  to  its  habitation 


140  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

and  mode  of  life.  This  principle  may  be  carried  out 
by  two  plans.  Either  the  animal  or  its  picture  may 
be  brought  before  the  children,  and  they  may  be  called 
upon  to  observe  its  formation,  and  from  considering  its 
form  and  structure  may  be  led  to  the  consideration  of 
its  habits  and  mode  of  life ;  or  their  attention  may  be 
first  directed  to  its  habits,  mode  of  life,  food,  and  then 
to  its  appearance  and  structure.  Suppose,  for  example, 
the  common  domestic  cat  be  taken  as  the  subject  of 
the  lesson :  On  the  first  plan,  the  children  would  be 
required  to  observe  all  the  parts  of  the  animal,  as  its 
sharp  teeth  and  sheathing  claws,  its  cushioned  feet  and 
flexible  limbs  ;  and  from  them  they  would  be  led  to  a 
consideration  of  its  habits  and  food  On  the  second  plan, 
the  attention  of  the  children  would  be  first  directed  to 
the  habits  of  the  cat,  its  noiseless  step  and  bounding 
movements,  to  its  destructive  appetite,  its  food,  &c. ; 
and  then  they  would  be  led  to  observe  its  powerful 
teeth  and  sharp  retractile  claws,  its  elastic  motion  and 
cushioned  feet,  and  readily  perceive  that  these  parts 
were  given  to  the  animal  in  order  that  it  might  perform 
the  actions  described,  and  secure  the  food  necessary  to 
its  existence.  This  second  plan  is  decidedly  the  best. 
The  interest  is  first  excited,  and  the  attention  com- 
manded by  a  description  of  the  animal  or  anecdotes 
respecting  its  mode  of  life,  and  then  the  hearers  are  ready 
and  anxious  to  find  out  the  means  by  which  it  executes 
these  various  actions,  and  procures  its  requisite  food. 
Again,  this  second  plan  is  the  most  natural,  for  a  child 
proceeds  from  what  is  best  known  to  what  is  unknown ; 
the  habits  of  every  animal  are  better  known  to  children 
than  their  structure."  In  pursuing  this  plan  the 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.       141 

lesson  will  fail  to  awaken  due  interest,  and  will  become 
formal,  if  attention  is  directed  first  to  one  series  of 
facts,  and  then,  when  these  are  exhausted,  to  the  other. 
A  better  plan  is  to  take  one  fact  and  find  the  corre- 
sponding fitness  in  structure,  then  another,  and  so  on. 

Colour  and  Form  hold  a  distinct  place  among  the 
means  of  cultivating  the  habit  of  observation.  Not 
without  reason.  They  are  two  qualities  of  objects  to 
which  attention  is  continually  directed,  and  which 
give  material  aid  to  the  forming  and  fixing  of  accurate 
ideas.  They  also  serve  to  prepare  the  children  for 
lessons,  in  which  pictures  and  diagrams  are  employed  as 
mediums  of  instruction. 

Colour  early  attracts  the  attention  of  the  child,  and 
on  this  account  has  claims  to  an  early  use  in  infant 
training.  But  it  has  other  claims.  "  Colour,"  quoted 
in  the  Society's  Manual,  from  Redgrave,  "  gives  to  the 
world  of  form  beauty  and  ornament ;  it  also  assists  us 
to  distinguish  form  ;  it  aids  us  to  determine  distance 
and  space,  and  enables  the  eye  more  readily  to  separate 
objects  and  parts  of  objects  from  each  other."  "  Colour," 
says  Miss  Mayo,  "is  a  subject  intimately  connected 
with  the  consideration  of  objects,  and  a  series  of  very 
interesting  lessons  might  be  formed  upon  it.  First,  a 
colour  should  be  exhibited  to  the  children,  and  when 
the  idea  of  the  particular  colour  is  thus  formed  in  their 
minds,  they  should  be  taught,  secondly,  to  connect  the 
right  name  with  it.  The  next  step  should  be  the  call- 
ing upon  them  to  mention  what  they  see  before  them 
of  that  colour,  so  that  their  sight  may  be  well  exer- 
cised in  discriminating  the  one  learnt  from  others. 
Next  they  should  be  required  to  name  objects,  from 


142  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

recollection,  of  the  colour  in  question, — this  will  tend 
to  form  the  abstract  idea,  and  will  also  furnish  the 
teacher  with  an  opportunity  of  cultivating  accuracy  of 
observation  and  propriety  of  expression.  .... 
For  the  commencing  lessons  on  Colour,  a  few  wafers  on 
a  card  will  be  sufficient,  one  being  added  when  a  new 
colour  is  brought  before  their  view.  When  they  are 
learning  the  various  shades,  they  should  have  them 
painted  on  slips  of  card,  which  should  be  kept  as 
standards  to  be  referred  to ;  also  the  proper  names  for 
each  should  be  learnt,  as  apple-green,  grass-green,  &c. 
Whenever  they  receive  a  lesson  on  flowers,  or  stones,  or 
any  other  coloured  object,  they  should  be  called  upon 
to  determine  its  precise  hue.  A  cake  of  each  of  the 
primitive  colours,  red,  blue,  and  yellow,  might  be  kept 
in  the  school,  and  it  could  be  made  evident  to  them 
how  all  other  colours  may  be  produced  by  their  combi- 
nation in  different  proportions.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  they  are  simply  shown  two  colours,  and  then  told 
what  they  will  produce  if  mixed  together.  This  kind 
of  instruction  is  of  little  or  no  value,  for  the  knowledge 
of  the  fact  is  but  of  small  importance  to  the  children  ; 
it  is  the  having  called  out  their  observation  upon  it ; 
it  is  the  habit  formed,  and  the  exercise  given,  that 
constitute  the  real  value  of  the  lesson,  and  this  is  a 
point  but  too  little  understood  by  teachers." 

The  graduated  course  adopted  by  the  Society,  is  in 
harmony  with  these  views. 

1st  Step. — Exercise  observation  on  several  colours  in 
succession,  names  being  withheld,  (a)  A  pattern  colour 
to  be  shown,  a  child  to  select  one  like  it,  others  to 
determine  if  it  is  right,  and  both  placed  side  by  side. 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      143 

(Z»)  A  coloured  card  to  be  taken,  and  a  child  to  find 
one  like  it  on  the  board  (c)  Colours  to  be  placed  in 
a  row,  then  a  child  to  arrange  others  in  the  same  order. 
The  colours  selected  at  this  step  should  be  opposed  in 
character. 

2nd  Step. — To  associate  names  with  the  colours  learnt. 
Terms  fix  ideas,  and  render  them  available  in  inter- 
courHe  with  others,  (a)  A  colour  to  be  selected,  and 
another  like  it  to  be  found,  the  name  is  then  to  b^1 
given,  and  repeated  by  the  class.  (6)  The  teacher  is 
to  name  a  colour,  the  child  is  to  find  it,  and  all  others 
like  it.  (c)  The  teacher  is  to  point  to  a  colour  and 
ask  its  name,  (d)  Coloured  beads  are  to  be  threaded — 
(1)  according  to  a  pattern  shown,  (2)  under  direction 
by  naming  the  colours.  The  principles  to  be  borne  in 
mind  by  the  teacher  at  this  step  are,  that  the  children 
are  to  be  guided  to  the  attainment  of  clear  and  distinct 
ideas  ;  that  they  are  made  to  feel  the  need  of  a  term  to 
give  them  clear  and  definite  expression ;  and  that 
proof  is  to  be  given  that  the  name  suggests  the  idea, 
and  that  the  object  recalls  the  name. 

3rd  Step. — To  strengthen  the  power  of  observation  ; 
to  cultivate  increased  accuracy  and  facility  in  expression, 
and  to  draw  out  the  faculty  of  conception  by  reference 
to  objects  not  actually  present.  (a)  A  colour  is  to  be 
shown  and  its  name  required,  (b)  Others  like  it  are 
to  be  selected  by  the  children.  (c)  Things  in  the 
room  of  the  same  colour  are  to  be  sought  and  named. 
(d)  Things  of  the  same  colour,  not  present,  are  to  be 
asked  for. 

±th  Step. — To  develop  idea  of  shades  and  tints,  and 
to  cultivate  nicety  of  discrimination  on  these  points. 


144  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

(a)  A  colour  is  to  be  shown,  then  a  dark  and  light 
shade  of  the  same  colour  are  to  be  placed  near  it.  (&) 
The  terms  dark  and  light  are  to  be  used  to  distinguish 
these  shades,  as  dark  blue,  light  blue.  (c)  Practice  is 
to  be  given  in  arranging  colours  according  to  their  in- 
tensity. A  normal  colour  is  to  be  selected,  then  all 
darker  than  it ;  these  are  next  to  be  arranged  according 
to  the  degree  of  intensity,  and  the  class  informed  that 
these  are  shades.  (d)  All  colours  lighter  than  the 
standard  are  to  be  selected  and  arranged,  and  the 
children  told  that  these  are  tints.  As  a  final  step,  the 
children  are  to  observe  that  no  colour  is  obtained  with- 
out light,  that  darkness  destroys  colour. 

As  a  property  of  objects,  Form  has  claims  on  the 
trainer  of  infants.  Doubtless  it  may  be  made  to  yield 
a  higher  culture  to  riper  years,  but  this  is  its  legitimate 
office  in  infant  training.  As  a  means  of  culture,  it  is 
of  higher  value  than  colour,  partly  because  of  the 
greater  complexity  in  the  act  of  perception,  and  partly 
because  of  the  greater  distinctness  with  which  it  can 
be  recalled  in  idea  In  consequence,  too,  of  the  greater 
adhesiveness  of  form,  comparison  may  be  instituted  of 
forms  now  present,  with  others  held  in  the  mind, 
and  thus  a  severer  mental  effort  may  be  secured  than 
when  all  the  objects  examined  are  present.  It  becomes 
also,  under  proper  guidance,  a  powerful  aid  to  dis- 
crimination. Among  the  endless  diversities  of  forms 
found  in  surrounding  things,  likeness  presents  itself 
amidst  dissimilarity,  and  may  be  seized  upon,  and 
separated  by  an  eye  in  search  of  likeness  amidet  adver- 
sity. "With  such  a  purpose  as  this,  judiciously  pursued, 
a  power  is  at  length  created,  than  which  few  things 


HOME   AND    COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      145 

could  be  so  beneficial  to  the  intellectual  life  and  activity 
of  the  child.  Scarcely  an  object  can  then  come  under 
its  notice  but  it  will  at  once  discern,  and  mentally 
separate  triangles,  rectangles,  circles,  cylinders,  cubes, 
and  other  forms,  to  perceive  which  its  eye  has  been 
educated  and  the  habit  given.  From  such  considera- 
tions it  becomes  evident  that  Form  should  hold  no 
secondary  place  in  infant  training.  This  Society 
attaches  much  importance  to  it,  and  has  published  an 
elaborate  course  of  lessons  in  relation  thereto. 

Lessons  on  Size  and  Weight  form  the  complement 
to  the  other  means  of  training  the .  senses.  Besides 
bringing  into  play  the  muscular  sense,  and  causing 
attention  to  be  fixed  on  personal  states  as  indications 
of  external  conditions,  they  present  the  opportunity  of 
making  children  acquainted  with  the  actual  standard 
weights  and  measures  of  the  country.  Thus  a  founda- 
tion is  laid  for  their  intelligent  use  at  a  later  school 
stage 

Few  things  connected  with  early  instruction  exhibit 
the  value  of  Pestalozzian  principles,  in  their  right 
sphere,  more  than  their  application  to  number  and 
numerical  operations.  So  long  had  arithmetic  in  its 
first  operations  been  by  rote,  and  in  its  later  stages  by 
rule,  that  it  would  seem  as  if  an  intelligent  mode  of 
approaching  it  and  studying  it  would  never  be.  In  no 
other  subject  of  instruction,  except  perhaps  grammar, 
did  it  seem  to  be  so  completely  a  truism  that  any  dis- 
ciplinary value  of  the  study  must  not,  if  obtained  at 
all,  be  so  until  either  the  pupil  was  engaged  in  the 
affairs  of  business,  or  had  made  such  progress  that  he 
could  work  a  few  problems  which  implied  at  least  some 

L 


146  SYSTEMS    OF  EDUCATION. 

insight  into  the  rationale  of  his  subject.  It  is  true 
that  Ward  had  exhibited  a  method,  the  same  as  was 
afterwards  applied  by  Pestalozzi  and  his  followers,  of 
intelligently  teaching  it.  But  it  had  not  borne  fruit. 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  its  subsequent  revival  by  the 
spread  of  Pestalozzian  principles  has  secured  for  it 
anything  like  universal  adoption.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  many  yet  have  no  faith  in  its  soundness,  while 
more  either  cannot  give  the  time,  or  will  not  undertake 
the  labour  that  it  requires.  Yet  in  many  a  well-con- 
ducted school  the  method  has  been  applied  with  success, 
and  even  with  infants  a  way  has  been  shown  of  making 
it  a  means  of  developing  and  cultivating  faculties, 
which  but  for  it  would  be  dormant  till  a  later  period. 

The  following  exposition  by  Mr.  Dunning  sets  forth 
the  ground  occupied  and  the  practices  commended  by 
this  society  : — "  Arithmetic  i&  a  subject  which,  if  pro- 
perly treated,  can  hardly  be  overrated  in  its  utility  as 
an  instrument  of  mental  culture,  and  in  its  importance 
to  the  business  of  life.  It  is  also  the  subject  I  would 
choose  to  illustrate  some  of  the  finest  principles  of 
Pestalozzi.  Indeed,  we  are  told  that  the  ability  which 
his  pupils  displayed  on  this  subject,  especially  on 
mental  arithmetic,  was  one  of  the  chief  means  by 
which  the  notice  of  the  public  was  attracted  to  his 
experiments. 

"  Arithmetic  is  a  powerful  means  of  developing  and 
strengthening  several  powers  of  the  mind  :  for  instance, 
it  promotes  concentrated  and  sustained  attention :  the 
processes  of  mental  arithmetic  improve  the  memory,  or 
rather,  what  we  may  call  tenacity  of  mind,  by  requiring 
the  question  to  be  remembered  whilst  the  answer  is 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      147 

being  discovered ;  by  requiring  the  several  numbers  to 
be  retained  in  the  rnind  whilst  they  are  being  worked ; 
and  the  mind  to  hold  the  distant  links  of  a  chain  whilst 
engaged  with  those  nearer.  It  also  affords  early  and 
appropriate  exercise  for  the  judgment ;  it  cultivates  the 
powers  of  abstraction  and  generalization,  and  furnishes 
ground  on  which  the  reasoning  powers  may  first  be 
called  into  exercise. 

"  Arithmetic  is  also  valuable  from  the  habits  of  mind 
which  it  induces,  as  accuracy,  activity  and  readiness, 
clearness  and  precision ;  and  the  habit  of  forming 
correct  and  precise  judgments  on  one  subject  prepares 
the  mind  to  form  similar  judgments  on  others,  and  thus 
the  mind  is  educated.  In  a  moral  point  of  view  also 
it  acts  beneficially,  for  the  habit  of  making  correct  and 
accurate  statements  promotes  the  love  of  truth.  "Weak 
characters  are  often  false  because  their  intellectual 
vision  is  indistinct,  but  those  who  are  accustomed  to 
the  precision  that  arithmetical  calculations  require,  and 
have  been  trained  to  habits  of  comparison,  fixedness  of 
attention,  and  searching  for  truth,  are  likely  to  carry 
such  habits  and  principles  into  their  moral  dealings ; 
at  least,  they  will  be  better  prepared  to  receive  the 
moral  lessons  of  the  Christian  educator. 

"  Arithmetic,  too,  has  advantages  above  every  other 
study ;  it  affords  the  teacher  the  opportunity  of  judging 
whether  the  pupils  have  really  and  effectively  been  at 
work,  from  the  certainty  of  its  results.  They  must  be 
either  right  or  wrong  without  dispute ;  he  is  able  also 
to  estimate  the  amount  of  work  done,  and  he  can 
superintend  more  individual  efforts  at  this  than  at 
almost  any  other  lesson.  Again,  no  study  affords  thi 


148  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

teacher  a  better  opportunity  of  carrying  out  right  prin- 
ciples of  teaching,  such  as  making  the  child  work,  and 
not  the  teacher,  leading  the  pupil  from  what  he  knows 
to  the  proximate  truth,  and  thus  carry  out  the  principle 
of  proceeding  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  from 
the  simple  to  the  complex,  from  the  particular  to  the 
general,  from  the  example  to  the  rule." 

Arithmetic  should  be  taught  early.  Dr.  Mayo 
observes,  "  the  obvious  connection  with  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  child,  the  simplicity  of  its 
data,  the  clearness  and  certainty  of  its  processes,  the 
neatness  and  indisputable  correctness  of  its  results, 
show  how  well  it  is  adapted  both  for  the  young  and 
for  minds  of  limited  structure."  There  is,  however,  no 
subject  in  which,  in  the  first  step  particularly,  it  is  more 
important  that  the  teacher  should  exercise  patience,  and 
endeavour  to  throw  himself  into  the  mind  of  the  child, 
and  actually  realize  to  himself  what  is  going  on  within 
the  little  being  whom  he  is  instructing ;  for  whilst 
arithmetic  is  the  simplest  of  all  sciences,  it  is  possessed 
of  its  peculiar  difficulties,  and  these  present  themselves 
especially  at  first  starting ;  and  although  it  is  true  that 
conquering  difficulties  is  the  very  means  by  which 
tone  and  vigour  are  given  to  the  mind  of  a  child,  yet 
these  difficulties  should  not  be  too  great, — his  way 
should  be  smoothed,  and  he  should  be  encouraged  and 
stimulated  gradually  to  ascend  the  hill. 

On  this  point  De  Morgan  well  observes,  "  It  is  a 
very  common  notion  that  this  subject  is  easy  ;  that  is, 
a  child  is  called  stupid  who  does  not  receive  his  first 
notions  of  number  with  facility  ;  this,  we  are  convinced, 
is  a  mistake.  Were  it  otherwise,  savage  nations  would 


HOME  AND   COLONIAL   SCHOOL  SOCIETY.      149 

acquire  a  numeration  and  a  power  of  using  it,  at  least 
proportional  to  their  actual  wants,  which  is  not  the  case. 
Is  the  mind  by  nature  nearer  the  use  of  its  powers  than 
the  body]  If  not,  let  parents  consider  how  many 
efforts  are  unsuccessfully  made  before  a  single  articu- 
late sound  is  produced,  and  how  imperfectly  it  is  done 
after  all,  and  let  them  extend  the  same  indulgence,  and 
if  they  will,  the  same  admiration  to  the  rude  essays 
of  the  thinking  faculty,  which  they  are  so  ready  to 
bestow  upon  those  of  the  speaking  power.  Unfor- 
tunately the  two  cases  are  not  equally  interesting ;  the 
first  attempts  of  the  infant  in  arms  to  pronounce  '  Papa  ' 
and  '  Mamma,'  though  as  much  like  one  language  as 
another,  are  received  with  exultation  as  the  promise  of 
a  future  Demosthenes  ;  but  the  subsequent  discoveries 
of  the  little  arithmetician,  such  as  that  six  and  four 
make  thirteen,  eight,  seven — anything  but  ten,-  far 
from  giving  visions  of  the  Lucasian  or  Savilian  chairs, 
are  considered  tiresome,  and  are  frequently  rewarded 
with  charges  of  stupidity  or  inattention.  In  the  lirst 
case  the  child  is  teaching  himself  by  imitation  and 
always  succeeds ;  in  the  second,  it  is  the  parent  or 
teacher  who  instructs,  and  who  does  notalvvays  succeed.or 
deserve  to  succeed.  Irritated  or  wearied  by  this  failure, 
little  manifestations  of  temper  often  take  the  place  of 
the  gentle  tone  with  which  the  lesson  commenced, 
by  which  the  child,  whose  perception  of  such  a  change 
is  very  acute,  is  thoroughly  cowed  and  discouraged, 
and  left  to  believe  that  the  fault  was  his  own,  when  it 
really  was  that  of  his  instructor." 

"  Having  endeavoured  to  set  forth  the  importance  of 
arithmetic,  the  next  point  is  the  plan  to  be  pursued  in 


150  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

teaching  it.  The  best  tool  may  fail  to  do  its  work  in 
an  unskilful  hand  ;  and  so,  excellent  as  arithmetic  un- 
doubtedly is,  if  not  properly  treated,  it  will  not  accom- 
plish the  task  we  have  assigned  it. 

"'Some  commence  their  instruction  in  arithmetic  by 
teaching  numeration,  i.  e.,  calling  out  in  succession  the 
first  hundred  numbers,  and,  in  order  to  enliven  the 
exercise  by  a  little  variety,  it  is  often  accompanied  by 
a  sort  of  chant,  or  motions  of  the  legs  and  arms. 

"  Others  commence  with  abstract  numbers, and  almost 
all  begin  with  the  operations  of  arithmetic,  without 
making  the  child  first  acquainted  with  the  idea  of  the 
numbers  themselves.  Further,  they  make  the  child 
first  learn  the  mechanical  rule,  and  then  perform  exer- 
cises, without  attempting  to  show  the  reasoTi  of  the 
rule  :  the  time  of  the  child  is  mainly  devoted  to  cipher- 
ing, where  he  is  trammelled  by  the  signs,  and  can 
neither  see  the  connection  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
process  he  is  working,  nor  trace  the  relation  between 
the  end  in  view  and  the  means  adopted.  Perhaps  the 
following  remarks  may  assist  usiii  discovering  the  un- 
philosophical  character  of  such  methods. 

"  1.  It  is  by  means  of  the  senses  that  a  child  acquires 
his  first  ideas,  and  amongst  these  the  idea  of  numbers  ; 
arid,  therefore,  objects  should  be  used  in  the  first  lessons 
in  arithmetic. 

"  2.  The  abstract  idea  of  numbers  is  acquired  by  ap- 
plying the  same  number  to  a  great  variety  of  objects ; 
therefore  the  child  should  see  it  applied,  not  to  one 
object  only,  but  to  many. 

"  3.  Operations  in  arithmetic,  performed  intelligently, 
require  a  knowledge  of  the  numbers  employed  in  the 


HOME   AND   COLONIAL  SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      151 

operation  ;  therefore,  before  the  child  begins  any  of 
the  operations,  he  should  be  well  acquainted  with  the 
values  of  the  numbers  with  which  he  has  to  work. 

"  4.  From,  observation  and  experience  we  find  that 
when  a  child  is  left  to  the  dictates  of  nature,  his  first 
operations  in  arithmetic,  like  his  first  ideas  of  number, 
are  applied  to  objects ;  and  that  when  the  Arabic 
numerals  are  introduced  early,  they  are  found  to  puzzle 
the  pupil,  and  make  him  much  longer  in  acquiring 
correct  ideas  of  the  properties  of  numbers  and  their 
relations  than  he  otherwise  would  be ;  therefore  he 
should  be  helped  by  objects,  such  as  the  ball  frame, 
in  his  first  attempts  to  work  numbers,  and  should  have 
mental  practice  before  he  begins  ciphering. 

"  5.  Whilst  it  very  seldom  happens  that  a  pupil  under- 
stands a  practical  example  the  better  for  learning  a 
rule  in  abstract  terms,  he  always  understands  a  rule  or 
principle  more  easily  from  first  performing  practical 
examples  ;  therefore  he  should  be  led  to  discover  the 
rule  or  principle  after  he  has  worked  many  examples 
in  it." 

The  following  is  the  graduated  course  of  instruction 
in  arithmetic  adopted  by  this  Society  for  very  young 
children : — 

In  the  first  step  the  child  obtains  his  idea  of  number 
from  visible  objects.  There  is  no  attempt  to  teach  the 
combinations  till  the  simple  idea  is  clearly  compre- 
hended. In  giving  the  simple  idea  objects  are  used, 
because  the  child  never  sees  number  apart  from  objects, 
and  his  mind  is  not  sufficiently  opened  to  understand 
numbers  presented  to  him  abstractedly.  The  practice 
of  making  a  young  child  repeat  the  words  one,  two, 


152  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

three,  &c ,  in  succession,  before  the  idea  of  number  is 
first  formed  in  his  mind,  which  is  called  teaching  it 
to  count,  will  not  enable  it  to  form  correct  ideas  of 
numbers  ;  he  cannot  do  this  until  he  sees  the  number 
itself  applied  to  things,  as  two  hands,  two  feet,  two 
balls,  &c.  That  the  child  may  get  the  abstract  idea, 
and  be  prevented  from  imagining  that  what  he  is  doing 
has  some  connection  with  one  set  of  objects  which  it 
has  not  with  another,  its  attention  is  directed  to  a 
variety  of  objects  ;  and  the  objects  selected  are  familiar 
to  the  child,  that  his  attention  may  not  be  distracted 
by  what  is  strange  to  him.  At  first,  also,  low  numbers, 
not  higher  than  ten,  are  taken.  To  such  terms  as 
million,  thousand,  or  even  hundred,  a  young  child  can 
attach  no  correct  idea,  and,  consequently,  is  put  in 
possession  of  words  only.  Ample  time  and  abundant 
variety  of  exercises  are  given  to  the  child  on  this  first 
step.  Too  much  pains  can  scarcely  be  taken  ta  render 
this,  the  first  step,  secure.  Every  means  that  can  be 
devised  should  be  taken  to  fix  the  children's  attention, 
to  accustom  them  to  reflect,  and  to  give  them  an  ac- 
curate idea  of  the  v  alue  of  numbers.  Care  should,  at 
the  same  time,  be  taken  to  keep  up  the  interest  of 
the  children  by  varying  the  form  or  subject  of  the 
questions. 

Second  Step. — When  the  children  have  clear  ideas 
of  the  first  ten  numbers,  they  commence  operations 
with  them  in  addition,  and  afterwards  in  all  the  simple 
rules  in  succession.  The  balls  are  continued  in  teaching 
the  various  processes,  on  the  same  principle  that  objects 
were  at  first  used.  The  attention  of  the  children,  how- 
ever, is  confined  to  one  sort  of  objects,  as  the  abstract 


HOME   AJfD   COLONIAL   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.      153 

idea  of  number  is  now  familiar.  Addition  and  sub- 
traction are  not  at  first  brought  together,  as  one  pro- 
cess at  a  time  is  sufficient  for  the  mind  of  a  child. 
When  a  child  has  a  clear  idea  how  to  add,  and  can  do  so 
with  tolerable  facility,  and  when  he  also  understands  how 
to  subtract,  and  can  do  so  pretty  well,  the  two  operations 
may  be  carried  on  in  the  same  lesson ;  and  after  adding 
by  one  number  he  may  subtract  by  the  same ;  and  this 
will  lead  him  to  a  clearer  perception  of  the  two  opposite 
processes.  It  is  found  better  at  first  not  to  puzzle  the 
child  by  a  variety  of  operations,  but  to  commence  with 
those  easiest,  and  to  exercise  him  by  increasing  his 
difficulties  in  the  same  operation  by  higher  numbers, 
never  exceeding  ten.  When  the  child  has  arrived  at 
the  limit  of  his  power  in  one  process,  then  another  is 
introduced  and  proceeded  with  in  like  manner,  then  the 
processes  that  have  been  learnt  are  alternately  applied. 

The  children  learn  the  operation  with  the  ball-frame 
that  they  may  have  a  clear  idea  of  it;  but  they  should 
gradually  learn  to  calculate  mentally,  that  the  mind 
may  acquire  power.  To  effect  this  the  ball- frame  is 
removed,  and  the  children  called  upon  to  repeat  a 
process  which  they  have  just  carried  on  with  it. 
Questions  also  on  absent  objects  are  proposed,  and 
promiscuous  questions  given,  the  ball-frame  being 
referred  to,  to  correct  any  mistake  made.  On  this  plan 
observation  is  first  exercised,  then  conception,  and 
lastly  abstraction. 

Third  Step. — The  same  exercises  that  constituted 
the  second  step,  with  a  little  variety,  and  extending 
the  numbers  to  twenty,  are  gone  over  in  this  step,  but 
without  any  reference  to  the  ball-frame,  except  for  the 


154  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

correction  of  mistakes.  For  the  children  should  not 
now  receive  assistance  from  objects,  that  the  operations 
may  become  purely  intellectual,  and  therefore  more  con- 
ducive to  improvement. 

Fourth  Step. — In  addition  to  extended  exercises  in 
mental  calculation,  in  the  four  fundamental  rules  they 
are  introduced  to  a  decimal  system  of  numeration,  and 
to  signs  and  definitions. 

The  decimal  system  of  numeration  is  taught  as  high 
as  one  hundred,  that  the  children  may  be  prepared  for 
calculations  involving  higher  numbers.  The  classifi- 
cation of  numbers  into  tens,  and  the  use  made  of  the 
first  ten  names  in  designating  the  succeeding  numbers 
shown.  In  this  exercise  the  ball-frame  is  used.  The 
multiplication  table  is  also  thoroughly  learned.  For 
ordinary  purposes  it  is  necessary  to  be  able  to  calculate 
quickly  and  readily,  and  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
tables  facilitates  this. 

The  pupils  being  thus  familiar  with  numbers,  and 
next  taught  how  to  represent  them  by  figures,  and  also 
the  signs  of  addition  and  the  other  rules,  they  are  also 
taught  to  form  regular  definitions,  both  of  the  rules 
and  the  various  terms  used  in  these  calculations,  that 
their  ideas  on  the  subject  may  be  made  more  precise  ; 
and  of  the  language  of  arithmetic. 

Section  IV. — Kindergarten  System. 

Amongst  those  who  have  tried  to  reduce  to  system, 
and  to  put  into  practical  shape  Pestalozzi's  great  prin- 
ciple, Frederick  Frb'bel  holds  no  mean  place.  To  him 
is  due  a  system  of  infant  training  which  has  taken  root 


KINDERGARTEN   SYSTEM.  155 

extensively  in  Germany,  and  which  has  been  winning 
its  way  tn  this  country  during  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Frobel,  the  son  of  a  village  pastor  in  Thuringia,  after 
his  education  under  his  parents'  roof,  found  his  way 
to  Switzerland  and  became  a  pupil,  under  Pestalozzi. 
Subsequently  he  did  service  in  a  school  at  Frankfort. 
Called  away  from  this  by  the  troubles  of  the  times,  he, 
like  many  others,  was  found  fighting  for  the  fatherland. 
When  peace  came  he  was  appointed  Inspector  to  the 
Mineralogical  Museum,  Berlin.  But  this  employment 
could  not  satisfy  a  nature  like  his,  in  which  had 
taken  deep  root  the  desire  to  live  for  the  good  of 
others.  He  gave  up  his  office  and  became  a  school- 
master. He  was  content  with  a  very  humble  position 
— a  small  village  school  in  Thuringia.  Here  he  la- 
boured, earnestly  striving  to  realize  the  principle  of 
harmoniously  developing  all  the  faculties  of  body  and 
mind  of  those  under  his  care. 

It  was  not  till  he  was  thus  cast  on  his  own  resources 
that  he  got  a  glimmering  of  what  this  great  principle 
embodies.  Nor  was  he  aware  till  now  of  the  almost 
insuperable  difficulties  which  the  errors  in  previous 
training  throw  in  the  way  of  carrying  it  out  in  school. 
Children  came  to  him  twisted  and  gnarled,  making  it 
impossible  to  train  them  as  he  wished.  Thus  he  came 
to  see  the  importance  of  early  training,  and  to  form 
the  design  of  devoting  his  life  to  its  improvement. 

He  began  in  the  right  way.  In  the  cottages  around 
him  were  children  in  all  stages  of  infancy  and  childhood. 
He  set  himself  to  observe  them,  and  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  their  characteristics.  He  found  these 
marks.  There  is  great  physical  activity,  a  force  from 


156  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

within,  partly  mental,  partly  vital,  leading  to  incessant 
action.  Associated  with  this  and  springing  frT>m  it  is 
a  strong  craving  for  employment.  There  is,  too,  an 
aesthetic  tendency  which  makes  the  child  susceptible 
of  pleasurable  emotions  from  light,  colour,  sound,  and 
form.  There  is  also  great  inquisitiveness,  shown  by 
constant  experiment  on  objects  with  hands  and  lips — 
a  curiosity  often  leading  to  the  breaking  of  toys,  to 
discover  something  which  the  child  wishes  to  know. 
Growing,  the  child  shows  greater  mental  activity, 
which  manifests  itself  in  occupations  of  an  inventive 
kind.  In  the  absence  of  anything  better,  he  places 
himself  in  the  gutter  and  forms  mud  pies,  or  erects  a 
dyke  and  makes  a  lake.  In  the  operations  now  carried 
on  there  is  manifested  by  snatches  of  speech,  or  frag- 
ments of  conversation,  the  presence  of  some  predomi- 
nating fancy,  which  while  the  hands  are  trying  to  give 
form  to  some  intellectual  conception,  soars  above  it  all, 
and  invests  the  works  of  its  hands  with  imaginary 
attributes,  or  makes  them  partners  in  a  little  drama,  in 
which  the  child  is  chief  performer.  They  have  also 
sympathy  and  a  strong  social  instinct,  which  leads 
them  to  prefer  acting  with  companions  of  their  own 
age.  And  there  is  great  playfulness,  "  turning  to  mirth 
all  things  of  earth,"  "  pleased  with  a  fancy,  tickled 
with  a  straw." 

The  child  having  revealed  itself  in  these  aspects, 
Frobel  set  himself  the  task  of  elaborating  a  system 
which  would  give  free  scope  for  their  activity  and  make 
them  the  means  of  developing  its  powers.  To  the 
result  he  gave  the  name  kindergarten.  In  this  name 
are  embodied  the  two  prime  principles  which  should 


KINDERGARTEN   SYSTEM.  157 

guide  and  control  early  training.  The  atmosphere  oil 
the  child's  life  should  be  one  of  happiness,  pleasure, 
joy,  beauty,  and  occupation ;  and  the  child  should  be 
treated  as  a  gardener  treats  a  plant ;  it  should  be  sur- 
rounded with  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  the  growth 
of  its  susceptibilities  and  powers,  with  no  other  inter- 
ference than  such  as  will  remove  hindrances,  prevent 
warping,  and  secure  judicious  guidance. 

Having  formed  his  system  and  framed  his  plans, 
leaving  his  schools  in  the  hands  of  a  relative,  he  did  in 
Germany  what  Wilderspin  was  doing  in  England,  he 
travelled  from  place  to  place  lecturing,  and  inducing 
others  to  establish  kindergarten  schools.  The  first 
opened  in  England  was  in  1851,  by  Johann  and  Bertha 
Kouge.  It  now  forms  a  part  of  the  system  of  training 
in  nearly  all  the  colleges  for  the  training  of  school- 
mistresses. 

The  apparatus  for^a  kindergarten  is  very  simple 
It  consists  of  a  series  of  "  gifts,"  which  range  in  an 
ascending  order.  The  first  consists  of  coloured  worsted 
balls,  and  the  second  of  a  cube,  a  ball,  and  a  cylinder. 
These  form  the  babies'  portion.  They  amuse  and  they 
instruct.  They  gratify  the  desire  to  be  doing.  They 
are  play,  but,  it  is  play  with  a  purpose.  Using  them 
under  guidance  the  child  becomes  an  accurate  observer. 
It  not  only  acquaints  itself  with  their  forms  and 
qualities,  but  it  is  led  to  observe  actions.  For  instance, 
whirling  a  ball,  it  is  directed  to  notice  the  curve ;  then 
shortening  the  string,  it  sees  that  the  circle  becomes 
smaller.  A  notable  feature  is  the  accompaniment  of 
these  actions.  It  is  taught  to  describe  them  in  infantile 
speech — now  a  word,  then  a  phrase  or  a  sentence, 


158  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

assisted  by  the  sympathy  and  voice  of  the  teacher,  just 
as  a  mother  would  when  amusing  her  babe.  How 
great  an  improvement  is  this  on  the  jargon  and  learned 
stilts  of  the  earlier  infant  schools  ! 

Gifts  three  and  four  consist  of  small  cubes  and 
squares.  They  furnish  a  series  of  exercises  well  adapted 
to  the  first  period  of  infant  school  life.  These  are 
of  four  kinds  — forms  of  utility,  artistic  forms,  geome- 
trical forms,  and  first  lessons  in  number.  Left  to  use 
his  cubes  as  he  pleases,  the  child  in  handling  them 
and  building  with  them  will  at  length  come  to  notice 
that  each  has  the  same  form,  number  of  faces,  edges, 
and  corners.  He  will  also  learn  the  right  meaning  of 
many  words,  chiefly  relating  to  position.  Every  day 
he  will  find  something  new.  He  will  vary  his  forms. 
So  long  as  he  is  happy  it  is  best  not  to  interfere. 
When  the  teacher  does,  it  may  be  in  one  of  two  ways : 
by  one  or  two  examples,  not  for  them  to  copy,  but  to 
suggest;  and  by  naming  subjects  according  to  the 
advancing  power  of  the  pupils,  from  grandma's  chair, 
a  gate,  a  house,  a  church,  a  monument,  to  the  planning 
of  a  garden  or  of  a  village.  A  more  important  work 
falls  on  the  teacher.  Taking  advantage  of  the  ten- 
dency to  invest  objects  with  imaginary  attributes,  the 
teacher  should  improvise  little  stories,  which  will  assist 
the  little  ones  to  express  their  ideas,  give  stimulus  to 
their  fancy,  awaken  kindly  feeling,  and  convey  in- 
formation. This  series  of  exercises,  besides  calling  forth 
invention  and  fancy,  will  give  the  child  a  motive 
to  observe,  and  many  an  object  will  receive  attention, 
and  afterwards  be  reproduced  in  school.  The  artistic 
and  geometrical  series  should  proceed  carefully  from  the 


KINDERGARTEN   SYSTEM,  159 

simplest  forms.  When  the  child  has  made  some 
progress,  then  let  it  invent  as  many  as  possible.  When 
a  very  beautiful  form  has  been  invented,  let  the  atten- 
tion of  all  be  directed  to  it.  Lessons  in  number  should 
begin  by  forming  the  cubes  into  groups  of  twos,  threes, 
and  so  on.  Then  with  these  groups  addition  and 
subtraction  should  be  performed.  Then  as  the  groups 
are  series  of  equal  numbers,  multiplication  and  division 
may  be  acquired.  One  series  of  groups  should  be  well 
mastered  before  proceeding  with  another.  It  is  recom- 
mended that  these  operations  shall  be  conducted  by 
the  class  marching  round  the  table  on  which  the  cubes 
are  displayed,  and  singing.  To  these  exercises  with 
gifts  three  and  four  might  be  joined,  as  some  skill  was 
attained,  the  lath  practice  and  drawing.  Provide  pieces 
of  smooth  tough  wood,  seven  inches  long,  half  an  inch 
wide,  and  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick.  With  these 
you  can  vary  the  lessons  on  form,  and  prepare  for  first 
lessons  in  reading.  One  piece  given  to  each  child 
would  be  used  to  show  the  varieties  of  position  which 
might  be  given  to  a  line.  Two  pieces  would  enable  it 
to  form  several  devices,  and  when  the  forms  X  T  Y 
appear  a  sheet  of  letters  may  be  shown,  and  the  child 
invited  to  discover  those  most  nearly  resembling  them. 
Three  pieces  would  extend  the  area  of  design,  and 
admit  of  more  letters.  This  exercise  may  be  followed 
with  advantage  by  drawing.  A  chalk  crayon  and  a 
slate  should  be  given  to  each  child,  and  it  should  try 
to  produce  with  these  the  forms  it  has  made  with  the 
laths. 

Gifts  five  and  six  are  simply  means  of  extending  the 
exercises  hitherto  given.     They  will  be  found  suitable 


160  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

for  the  second  period  of  infant  school  life.  They  con- 
tain a  greater  number  and  larger  variety  of  pieces.  By 
means  of  sections  of  the  cube  triangular  pieces  occur, 
and  other  forms,  and  prisms  are  added.  With  these 
more  complicated  structures  are  possible,  and  a  larger 
demand  is  made  on  the  inventive  faculty.  The  first 
course  leaves  the  children  to  themselves ;  but  when 
they  have  exhausted  their  own  resources,  it  is  suggested 
that  the  teacher  shall  take  her  boys  and  build  up  before 
them,  confining  each  lesson  to  one  building.  During 
this  process  she  is  to  make  such  observations  as  she 
may  think  called  for ;  and  when  the  building  is  com- 
plete, she  is  to  tell  some  pleasing  story  in  connection 
with  it.  Of  course  these  gifts  offer  the  means  of  larger 
culture  in  form ;  and  to  extend  this  culture,  and  to 
carry  still  further  the  preparatory  lessons  for  reading 
and  in  drawing,  more  laths  might  be  employed.  If 
the  teacher  is  so  minded,  the  variety  of  forms  in  these 
gifts  furnish  the  opportunity  for  lessons  on  angles,  sur- 
faces, and  solids  ;  and  they  also  furnish  the  means  for 
an  extended  course  of  numbers,  fractional  parts  being 
shown  and  operations  on  them  performed,  but  taking 
care  that  nothing  is  demanded  from  the  child  but  what 
is  grouped  before  his  eye. 

The  most  advanced  course  is  the  best  recommenda- 
tion of  the  preceding  stages.  It  presents  sufficient 
variety  of  employment,  each  step  preparing  for  the 
next  and  higher  one.  Exercises  with  cards  of  different 
colours  and  shapes  impart  and  develop  taste  in  the 
arrangement  and  design  both  of  form  and  colour. 
Stick-laying  enlarges  the  area  for  culture  of  form. 
Pea-work  introduces  outline  forms  of  building  and  of 


KINDERGARTEN   SYSTEM.  161 

other  things,  sticks  being  united  by  means  of  peas. 
Coloured  strips  of  paper  are  employed  in  plaiting,  by 
means  of  which  great  scope  is  given  for  taste  in  the 
blending  of  colours,  and  in  the  design  and  arrangement 
of  patterns.  The  process  of  culture  goes  on  in  paper- 
cutting  and  in  perforating  cardboards,  and  it  is  con- 
summated by  modelling  in  clay. 

Reading  is  to  be  taught  on  the  same  principle  as 
other  things.  The  child  must  do  and  invent.  A  box 
containing  strips  of  cardboard  of  various  forms  and 
sizes  is  provided.  It  has  to  form  letters,  and  it  has  to 
put  together  words.  A  common  element  having  been 
placed  down,  as  "  it; "  the  children  are  to  place  b  before 
it,  and  all  are  to  say  "bit;"  then  removing  the  b  and 
placing  /,  "  fit,"  and  so  on.  This  spelling  exercise  is 
to  be  associated  with  writing,  each  child  to  form  on 
the  slates  the  letters  and  words  it  has  made  with  the 
cards.  Reading  is  to  be  conducted  on  the  plan  detailed 
in  Mrs.  Tuckfield's  "  Education  for  the  People."  The 
teacher  takes  an  object,  obtains  from  the  class  its  name, 
qualities,  and  uses,  and  writes  on  the  black-board  as 
she  proceeds.  At  the  close  of  the  lesson  the  children 
read  what  has  thus  been  written. 


162 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IHB  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL. 

Section  I. — Dr.  Andrew  Bell. 

THE  first  attempt  to  reduce  elementary  instruction  and 
school-keeping  to  system  was  that  of  Dr.  Bell,  the 
founder  of  the  monitorial  system.  Much  that  was 
valuable  in  principle,  and  many  important  practical 
suggestions,  had  appeared  in  the  writings  of  Ascham, 
Milton,  Locke,  and  others  ;  but  Dr.  Bell  was  the  first 
to  make  everything  connected  with  the  school  do  its 
work  as  a  part  of  a  machinery  for  the  intellectual  and 
moral  benefit  of  the  pupils.  The  germ  of  the  moni- 
torial system,  or  of  that  part  of  it  which  concerns 
teaching,  is  found  in  Quintilian,  who  maintains  that 
one  who  has  just  acquired  a  subject  is  best  fitted  to 
teach  it ;  but  Dr.  Bell  hit  on  the  expedient  by  accident. 
It  was  the  refusal  of  one  of  the  teachers  of  the  Military 
Orphan  Asylum,  Madras,  to  do  some  part  of  his  duty, 
which  led  him  to  employ  a  boy,  who  succeeded  so  well 
that  eventually  the  adult  teachers  were  dismissed,  and 
the  institution  conducted  by  boys.  The  system  was 
introduced  into  England  in' 179 7,  and  was  first  prac- 
tised in  the  oldest  parochial  charity  school  in  the  city 
of  London,  St.  Botolph's,  Aldgate. 

In  endeavouring  to  determine  the  value  of  any 
educational  system,  we  must  not  merely  examine  the 
adaptation  of  its  parts  to  the  objects  or  aims  of  the 


DR.   ANDREW   BELL.  163 

system  ;  for  in  this  respect  it  might  be  perfect  as  a 
system,  and  yet  as  a  system  of  education  be  of  little 
value.  We  must  rather  examine  the  aims  of  tne 
system,  and  inquire  whether  these  are  what  education 
— true  education — requires,  and  then  examine  all  parts 
of  the  system  in  reference  to  their  adaptation  to  secure 
these  objects. 

No  person  concerned  for  the  well-being  of  society, 
and  for  the  advancement  of  his  race  in  intelligence, 
civilization,  and  material  and  moral  well-being,  can  be 
indifferent  to  the  question,  What  is  the  province  of 
the  elementary  school  for  the  poor  ?  The  schoolmaster 
has  a  special  interest  in  the  reply,  as  so  much  depends, 
both  in  his  qualifications  and  in  his  daily  avocations, 
upon  the  answer.  Dr.  Bell's  answer  is  short  and  ex- 
plicit. "  It  is,"  he  says,  "  to  teach  the  rudiments  of 
letters,  of  morality  and  of  religion,  and  to  prepare 
children  for  the  stations  they  have  to  fill."  Or,  as  he 
says  elsewhere,  it  is  "  to  turn  out  good  scholars,  good 
men,  good  subjects,  and  good  Christians."  Interpreted 
rightly,  no  higher  aims  than  these  could  be  put  forth  by 
any  educationist ;  but  when  we  come  to  inquire,  we  find 
that  the  views  of  Bell,  hid  under  these  terms,  were  of  the 
most  moderate  and  limited  character.  His  "  Rudiments 
of  Learning "  embraced  only  mechanical  reading  and 
writing,  with  some  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  four. 
Nay,  in  the  case  of  the  very  poor  he  did  not  go  even 
thus  far.  It  was  sufficient  for  them  to  learn  to  read 
the  Bible  !  It  seems  ludicrous  in  this  connection  to 
speak  of  "  good  scholars,"  when  the  ability  to  read  the 
Bible  well  does  not  give  the  ability  to  read  even  a 
newspaper.  Perhaps,  which  is  very  likely,  the  doctor, 


164  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

by  "good"  scholars  did  not  refer  to  the  extent  of 
their  attainments,  but  to  their  soundness,  as  few  educa- 
tionists have  been  so  strenuous  as  he  on  having 
everything  that  is  learnt  done  thoroughly.  By  the 
rudiments  of  morality  and  religion  Bell  seems  to  have 
meant  a  memoritcr  acquaintance  with  passages  of  Holy 
Scripture  and  with  Mie  Catechism.  Many  besides  Bell 
have  attached  great  importance  to  this  practice,  as  the 
one  calculated  to  make  "  good  Christians."  Locke  was 
one  of  the  first  to  suggest  a  doubt  of  its  efficiency,  and 
to  point  out  that  no  moral  or  religious  habit  is  formed 
by  merely  preceptive  instruction.  In  fact,  it  is  hard 
to  understand  what  influence  a  merely  verbal  acquaint- 
ance with  divine  truth  could  have  on  any  man  unless 
it  was  his  habit  to  submit  his  conscience  hourly  to  its 
guidance.  And  we  know  that  there  are  many  with 
such  knowledge  who  are  totally  unsanctified  by  it 
either  in  life  or  heart.  For  ourselves,  we  should  prefer, 
wherever  practicable,  that  before  Scripture,  Catechism, 
or  hymns  are  committed  to  memory,  moans  should  be 
taken  to  open  out  their  meaning,  ai.d  to  bring  it  to 
bear  on  the  conscience  and  practice,— satisfied,  too, 
that  this  would  fa/.x  in  making  "  good  Christians," 
unless  accompanied  by  the  powerful  working  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  is  singular  that  the  analogy  of  reading 
did  not  suggest  to  Dr.  Bell  that  moral  habits  are  not 
formed  by  learning  by  heart.  For  as  no  one  can  be 
said  to  have  received  the  rudiments  of  learning  until 
he  has  the  power  to  read,  so  no  one  has  the  rudiments 
of  morality  until  he  practises  it. 

/The  province  of  the  school  in  relation  to  the  future 
calling  of  the  children  is  an  important  question.    There 


DR.   ANDREW   BELL.  165 

is  no  doubt,  as  Bell  states,  that  the  school  should  pre- 
pare them  for  the  stations  they  have  to  fill.  But 
should  this  preparation  be  general  or  special  ?  Should 
it  consist  in  the  formation  of  such  habits  as  are  required 
in  any  employment »  or  should  it  consist  in  furnishing 
industrial  occupation  or  teaching  a  trade  ?  No^~  it 
must  be  remembered  that  every  well-conducted  elemen- 
tary school  does  supply  that  training,  does  secure  that 
discipline,  and  does  form  those  habits  which  constitute 
a  general  fitness  for  success  in  any  calling.  Considered 
in  this  light,  all  good  schools  are  industrial.  Attention, 
effort,  patience,  persevering  application,  are  being  cul- 
tivated every  hour ;  and  if  they  once  become  habitual 
there  will  be  no  more  difficulty  in  transferring  them  to  a 
trade  or  handicraft,  or  any  other  occupation,  than  there 
is  in  turning  them  from  one  school  subject  to  another. 

So  thought  Bell ;  hence  he  claims  for  the  monitorial 
school  superiority  in  this  respect,  because  it  secured 
the  constant  employment  of  every  child,  and  also  in- 
vested many  with  offices  of  trust.  But  Bell  went  fur- 
ther than  this,  and  maintained  that  the  children  of 
the  labourer  and  of  the  artisan,  after  an  hour  or  two  in 
school,  should  be  employed  on  some  industrial  occu- 
pation, or  in  learning  a  trade. 

Bell  here  showed  himself  not  to  be  in  advance  of  the 
public  opinion  of  his  day,  which  would  debar  the  poor 
from  extended  instruction,  as  utterly  unbefitting  their 
condition,  and  as  dangerous  to  society.  But  many  still 
claim  this  as  the  function  of  the  school, — some  as  a 
means  of  keeping  children  longer  under  instruction, 
the  parents  being  able  to  appreciate  the  industrial  oc- 
cupation ;  others,  because  many  employments  require 


166  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

a  manual  dexterity  which  can  be  acquired  only  by 
^  those  who  go  to  them  young. 

The  esseiitial  conditions  of  real  education,  according 
(  to  Dr.  Bell,  are  attention  and  exertion  on  the  part  of 
\  the  children.  The  success  of  a  system  in  securing 
these  is  the  test  by  which  it  ought  to  be  tried,  and 
on  the  ground  »f  its  fitness  to  secure  them  he  claims 
attention  to  his  own.  Dr.  Bell  is  doubtless  right  in 
taking  this  ground,  as  a  more  important  principle 
cannot  be  named  in  connection  either  with  elementary 
learning  or  the  acquisition  of  right  habits.  Attention 
originates  in  a  desire  to  learn,  and  its  degree  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  strength  of  the  desire.  It  seems,  as 
employed  by  Bell,  to  imply  instruction  and  an  in- 
structor. But  here  is  one  of  the  weakest  points  in 
Dr.  Bell's  system.  As  he  attached  little  weight  to 
what  is  done  for  a  child,  and  highly  valued  the  teach- 
>v-  mK  °f  children  by  children,  the  result  was  that  the 
instruction  was  mere  rote,  and  consisted  chiefly  of 
what  was  mechanical  and  verbal.  The  agency  em- 
ployed was  well  fitted  to  accomplish  this  task,  and 
nothing  in  later  improvements  even  can  be  said  to 
be  superior,  perhaps  not  equal  to  it,  in  securing  the 
mastery  of  lessons  which  always  involve  an  amount 
of  irksome  drudgery  to  an  adult.  But  this  system 
was  fruitless  in  a  higher  culture — a  culture  that  is 
only  possible  when  the  mind  of  the  well-instructed 
master  is  brought  to  bear  directly  and  not  vicariously 

/  on  the  minds  of  his  charge.     The  habit  of  attention 
/  °  » •*-— 

/  andjjxertion  during  a  succession  of  lessons,  for  several 
hours  daily,  was  rightly  deemed  by  Bell  of  more  im- 
portance than  the  simple  act  of  attention  required  in 


DB.   ANDREW  BELL.  167 

one  lesson.  Hence  the  weight  he  attaches  to  this  as 
an  argument  for  the  employment  of  monitors,  these  se- 
curing both  a  greater  variety  of  work  and  more  constant 
employment  than  were  possible  with  but  one  teacher. 

But  without  looking  at  from  the  monitorial  point  of 
view,  we  must  legard  it — as  indeed  did  Bell — as  the 
backbone  of  any  system  of  school  education.  Nothing 
in  any  system  of  education  can  be  a  substitute  for  a 
child's  own  exertions  No  one  ever  became  a  scholar 
by  the  efforts  of  his  teacher.  Personal  exertion  is 
the  only  road  to  knowledge  and  mental  cultivation. 
Therefore  all  methods  of  instruction  are  of  value,  just 
in  proportion  as  they  stimulate  the  child  to  put  forth 
his  own  efforts  on  the  task  before  him,  and  fit  him  for 
independent  exertion  at  another  time.  This  is  the 
aim — or  ought  to  be — of  all  teaching,  the  master, 
feeling  that  it  is  his  province  to  teach  only  so 
far  as  to  make  his  pupils  to  learn.  A  teacher's 
measure  of  success  should  always  be  the  degree  to 
which  he  can  bring  his  scholars  to  exert  themselves 
without  aid.  In  fact,  it  may  be  laid  down  as  an 
axiom,  that  all  methods  succeed  as  instruments  of 
education  in  the  degree  in  which  they  gain  the  pupils' 
own  efforts,  and  thereby  tend  to  form  him  to  habits  of 
self-exertion  and  reliance.  Especially  is  this  true  in 
schools  for  the  poor ;  for  as  school  life  is  short — too 
short  for  the  purposes  of  education — the  work  of  every 
school  should  be  to  put  the  power  of  self-education 
in  every  one's  reach. 

It  will  not  escape  notice  that  this  matter  is  regarded 
both  as  a  means  and  as  an  end :  as  a  means,  because 
nothing  that  is  really  valuable  in  the  whole  range  of 


168  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

knowledge,  or  in  the  fitness  of  the  mind  to  acquire  it, 
is  possible  to  any  one  but  through  his  own  arduous 
exertions ;  as  au  end,  because  the  habit  of  active 
exertion  and  constant  employment,  directed  to  right 
objects,  is  one  of  the  most  important,  whether  to  his 
own  individual  welfare  or  his  usefulness  to  society. 

The  principle  which  we  have  been  considering  may 
be  regarded  as  the  charaoteristic  feature  of  school 
education  until  the  introduction  of  oral  teaching  and 
of  collective  lessons.  Bell's  schools  made  no  pro- 
vision for  it  but  what  was  obtained  by  the  preparation 
of  lessons  in  school.  But  in  other  schools — those  of 
a  higher  grade — there  were  home  tasks,  which  it  was 
the  chief  business  at  school  to  recite  and  to  hear. 

At  present,  with  an  equal  sense  of  the  importance 
of  securing  a  child's  exertions,  our  means  are  multi- 
plied of  doing  so  by  our  improved  methods  of 
teaching  and  organization.  In  many  schools  a  por- 
tion of  time  is  given  by  the  younger  children  to  the 
silent  preparation  of  lessons,  monitors  being  employed 
to  see  that  all  are  faithfully  engaged.  A  very  valuable 
means  of  securing  the  scholar's  exertions  is  having  in 
every  class  where  practicable  the  oral  and  reading 
lessons  reproduced  as  abstracts.  Another  means  is 
that  of  requiring — where  the  subjects  admit  of  it,  as 
in  grammar  and  arithmetic — independent  examples  in 
illustration  of  any  principle  that  has  been  explained 
or  proved.  In  choosing  his  subjects,  whether  of  class 
or  collective  lessons,  the  teacher  should  give  preference 
to  those  which  admit  of  this  practice.  And  he  should 
be  ever  careful  to  require  his  scholars  to  work  out  by 
themselves  either  the  same  lesson,  or  examples  of  a 


DR.   ANDREW   BELL.  169 

similar  nature ;  as  it  often  happens  that  children  who 
perfectly  understand  a  process  when  shown  to  them 
on  the  B.  B.  or  follow  a  process  of  reasoning  under 
the  stimulus  of  a  master's  questions,  find  themselves 
unable  to  do  so  afterwards  alone. 

But  of  all  the  modes  of  securing  the  scholar's  own 
exertions,  that  of  home  exercises — if  well  devised — is 
the  best.  Being  more  purely  his  own  work,  they  are 
highly  favourable  to  good  progress.  Their  evident 
tendency  is  to  form  habits  of  voluntary  exertion  and 
self-reliance,  for  the  scholar  is  working  alone,  without 
either  the  stimulus  of  the  master's  questions,  or  the 
power  to  appeal  to  his  assistance.  Hence  they  are 
peculiarly  favourable  to  habits  of  self-dependence,  as 
difficulties  are  to  be  met  with,  which  must  be  grappled 
with  and  overcome  without  assistance.  That  "  home 
exercises"  may  secure  all  this  benefit  to  the  pupil, 
they  must  be  of  a  nature  to  interest  him.  Three 
kinds  of  home  exercises  are  found  in  all  good  schools : 
— Preparative,  including  the  reading  lesson,  spelling, 
history,  geography,  and  any  other  which  simply 
exercises  the  memory ;  Repetitionary,  consisting  of 
abstracts  of  lessons,  and  the  working  of  examples  in 
grammar  and  arithmetic,  —  a  practice  valuable  not 
only  as  a  repetition,  but  as  giving  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  subject  j  Inventive,  including  all 
exercises  in  composition,  froin  a  list  of  descriptive 
terms  in  the  lower  classes,  to  the  theme  or  essay  in 
higher,  and  also  including  such  a  preparation  of  the 
reading  lessons  as  involves  the  use  of  a  dictionary.  Of 
these  three  modes  the  last  is  the  best  adapted  to  call 
out  his  powers ;  the  work  is  more  properly  his  own,  and 


170  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

any  success  he  meets  with  animates  him  to  further 
efforts.  "  Of  all  subjects  calculated  to  call  forth  a 
pupil's  owu  efforts,  those  which  give  him  something 
to  do  have  the  preference  over  those  which  merely 
give  him  something  to  say." 

The  principles  on  which  Dr.  Bell  would  have  the 
instruction  of  children  conducted  are  excellent,  and 
so  are  many  of  his  devices.  To  the  latter  he  justly 
attached  less  importance  than  to  the  former,  preferring 
that  the  working  out  of  a  principle  should  he  left  to 
the  teacher  himself,  who,  he  says,  should  he  "  a  man 
of  many  devices."  Here  is  practical  wisdom.  No 
teacher  should  allow  himself  to  he  the  slave  of  routine. 
Let  him  have  principles  and  keep  to  them,  hut  let 
his  application  of  principles  be  determined  by  his 
circumstances.  He  will  often  find  that  where  one 
device — successful  in  other  cases — fails  in  a  particular 
one,  another  will  succeed;  his  principle  meanwhile 
^  working  in  all.  That  the  instruction  in  Bell's  system 
degenerated  into  a  system  of  rote  was  the  fault  of  the 
agent,  rather  than  of  the  principles  arid  methods.  The 
most  essential  thing  to  secure  the  pupil's  attention 
and  exertion  is  to  excite  his  interest  in  the  work  he 
has  to  do.  This,  then,  is  Bell's  aim.  The  pupil  must 
have  something  to  do  in  every  lesson.  This  Bell 
partly  secures  by  requiring  every  lesson  to  be  pre- 
pared by  the  pupil,  with  or  without  assistance,  before 
bringing  it  up  to  the  class.  He  also  lays  great  stress 
on  writing,  both  in  the  preparation  and  reproduction 
of  lessons.  "  This  gratifies,"  he  says,  "  the  love  of 
activity  inherent  in  the  young  mind."  A  definite 
portion  of  work  must  be  assigned  to  be  mastered  in 


DR.   ANDREW   BELL.  171 

each  lesson.  The  advantages  of  this  are,  that  the 
pupil,  knowing  how  much  he  is  expected  to  master, 
works  with  greater  energy,  and  as  he  is  better  ahle  to 
mark  his  own  progress,  he  works  under  greater  en- 
couragement. It  is  necessary  tliat  all  the  initiatory 
processes  be  learnt  thoroughly,  and,  in  fact,  that  every 
lesson — in  any  way  necessary  to  the  understanding  of 
those  that  follow  it — be  fully  mastered.  "  Without 
this  the  pupil  is  as  one  stumbling  in  the  dark."  Henco 
no  lesson  or  book  in  the  earlier  stages  should  be  passed 
until  well  learnt.  By  the  practice  of  passing  through 
lessons  without  mastering  them,  "  a  load,"  he  says, 
"  of  toil  and  tedium  is  laid  up ;  and  the  scholar,  con- 
scious of  his  imperfect  and  slow  progress,  and  puzzled 
and  embarrassed  by  every  lesson,  everywhere  feels  dis- 
satisfied, with  the  irksomeness  of  his  daily  tasks,  and 
alike  disgusted  with  his  master,  his  school,  and  his 
book."  In  order  to  this  thoroughness  there  must  be 
a  system  of  repetition.  Unless  frequently  repeated 
the  impressions  made  on  the  memory  wear  off.  The 
impressions  made  by  one  or  two  perusals,  or  one  or  two 
practices  of  a  lesson,  are  very  weak ;  but  even  where 
well  learnt  they  die  out,  or  the  power  is  lost,  unless 
frequently  recalled.  To  obtain  repetition  without 
sameness,  one  requisite,  according  to  Bell,  is  so  to 
graduate  the  lessons  that  every  step  may  prepare 
for,  and,  as  it  were,  anticipate  the  following  step. 
Another  is  to  combine  the  new  matter  of  the  lesson 
with  the  old,  by  which  means,  while  making  fresh 
acquisitions,  he  is  not  losing  those  made  before.  But 
both  these  will  be  ineffective  unless  joined  with  re- 
capitulation, or  the  going  over  an  entire  series  of 


172  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

lessons  a  second  or  third  time,  but  more  rapidly  than 
in  the  first  working.  The  danger  to  be  guarded  from 
— especially  in  reading  lessons— is  their  becoming 
simply  memoriter. 

The  application  of  these  principles  to  the  several 
subjects  of  instruction  may  now  be  detailed. 
,  Reading. — Irrespective  of  the  number  of  classes, 
which  would  depend  on  the  size  of  the  school,  there 
are  five  marked  stages  in  Bell's  system,  each  more  or 
less  distinguished  by  differences  of  method — Alpha- 
betical, Monosyllabic  Reading,  Monosyllabic  Spelling, 
Easy  Reading,  Bible  Reading.  The  methods  or  devices 
were  of  two  kinds — individual  and  class.  The  indi- 
vidual were  confined  to  the  first  three  stages,  and  were 
employed  chiefly  in  the  preparation  of  lessons  after- 
wards  to  be  heard  in  the  class.  Two  children,  one  a 
tutor,  the  other  a  pupil,  were  placed  side  by  side,  the 
one  to  teach,  the  other  to  learn  the  appointed  lesson. 
The  method  was  to  teach  to  read  by  first  teaching  to 
write.  As  the  first  difficulty  encountered  by  a  pupil 
in  learning  to  read  is  that  of  distinguishing  the  letters 
and  words,  Bell  aimed  to  overcome  it  by  bringing  the 
hand  to  the  aid  of  the  eye.  Here  he  shows  himself  to 
be  a  practical  teacher,  and  not  a  mere  theorist.  The 
attempt  to  produce  a  thing  by  the  hand  gives  greater 
keenness  of  observation,  and  impresses  the  thing  more 
permanently  on  the  memory. 

The  alphabet  was  grouped  into  a  series  of  lessons, 
the  letters  being  arranged  according  to  their  simplicity 
of  form.  When  the  alphabet  was  mastered,  all  possible 
combinations  of  two  letters,  a  vowel  and  a  consonant, 
formed  another  series,  before  the  pupil  was  thought  fit 


DR.   ANDREW  BELL.  173 

to  pass  from  the  alphabet  stage.  Each  lesson  consisted 
of  three  steps.  The  letter  was  traced,  imitated,  and 
at  last  produced  from  memory.  The  second  stage  in 
the  learner's  course  was  to  read  interesting  stories  in 
words  of  one  syllable.  The  doctor  attached  much 
importance  to  the  scholars  becoming  early  familiar 
with  all  monosyllabic  words  because  of  their  recurring 
so  frequently ;  and  his  making  the  first  lessons  interest- 
ing stories  was  intended  to  lessen  the  sense  of  irksome- 
ness  necessarily  attendant  on  the  first  stage  of  a  new 
subject.  Each  lesson  was  prepared  on  the  individual 
method.  It  was  first  written,  then  spelt  on  the  book, 
and  then  with  the  book  closed.  This  formed  the  first 
step.  Then  the  children  were  assembled  in  class,  and  the 
lesson  was  read,  first  word  by  word  in  turn,  then  by 
sentences  or  lines — a  pause  being  made  after  every  word, 
for  the  twofold  purpose  of  securing  clear  enunciation, 
and  of  impressing  the  words  more  distinctly  on  the 
eye.  Then  the  books  were  closed  and  the  lesson  spelt 
through,  after  which  it  was  again  written  on  slates. 
The  third  stage  consisted  in  the  scholar  learning  to 
spell  all  the  syllables  that  enter  into  the  composition 
of  words.  He  offers  two  reasons  for  what  is  so  un- 
necessary, so  irksome,  and  so  unintelligent  a  practice : 
''  Children  so  taught  will  not  be  able  to  learn  by  rote ; 
and  henceforth  they  will  be  able,  with  little  trouble, 
to  read  any  book  put  into  their  hands."  This  reason  is 
similar  to  that  urged  for  the  phonic  method;  and  in 
both  cases  there  is  but  one  answer — that  it  is  familiarity 
with  whole  words,  obtained  by  frequently  seeing  them> 
that  enables  any  one  to  read  them  at  a  glance.  The 
fourth  stage  introduced  the  learner  to  such  easy  reading 


174  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

as  was  supplied  by  the  narratives  of  the  New  Testament. 
Here  "previous  spelling"  and  "individual  teaching" 
disappear.  The  methods  are— word  about,  then  by 
phrases;  "because,"  as  the  doctor  says,  "the  power  to 
analyze  a  sentence  into  its  parts  is  necessary  to  reading 
with  intelligence;"  then  by  sentences,  and  lastly  by 
pauses.  This  course  was  followed  by  spelling  with 
book  closed,  and  by  a  memoriter  examination.  The 
fifth  stage  introduced  the  learner  to  the  Bible.  The 
methods  employed  were  the  same  as  before,  with  the 
omission  of  "  word  about." 

Writing. — The  views  of  Bell  and  of  Locke  on 
teaching  to  write  may  be  taken  as  expository  of  the 
practices  of  the  17th  and  18th  centuries — a  period, 
according  to  Lord  Palmerston,  marked  by  good  writing. 
No  doubt  the  good  writing — in  which  the  schools  of 
the  old  masters  excelled — was  owing,  in  great  measure, 
to  their  observance  of  the  rules  of  Bell  and  the  plans 
of  Locke.  According  to  Dr.  Bell,  writing  should  be 
taught  on  the  principle  of  learning  to  do  one  thing 
at  a  time.  The  first  thing  to  be  learnt  is  the  manage- 
ment of  the  hand,  then  of  the  pen ;  and  as  these  are 
sufficiently  difficult  in  themselves,  they  ought  to  bo 
mastered  before  forms  of  the  letters  are  attempted. 

ORGANIZATION. — Dr.  Bell  regarded  organization  as 
/  the  prime  instrument  for  obtaining  attention  and 
exertion.  Nor  can  he  be  said  to  have  attached  too 
much  importance  to  it.  For  the  objects  organization 
aims  to  secure  are  the  constant  employment,  efficient 
instruction,  and  moral  control  of  every  child.  And  it 
is  necessary  to  have  some  means  of  promoting  these 
apart  from  the  direct  act  of  instruction,  because 


DR.   ANDREW  BELL.  175 

children  have  a  love  of  activity,  are  so  affected  by 
novelty,  have  so  little  power  of  continuous  attention 
and  have  so  many  temptations  to  neglect  their  work, 
that  unless  stimulated  continually  to  activity  and  exer- 
tion, through  the  power  of  the  master  to  act  on  many 
points  at  once,  the  work  of  the  school  will  not  go  on. 

The  first  feature  of  the  Madras  organization  is  its 
being  monitorial.  In  other  words,  the  teaching  and 
management  of  the  school  were  entrusted  to  such  as 
were  yet  learners,  selected  for  their  several  offices 
according  as  they  showed  an  aptitude  to  teach  or  to 
manage.  The  primary  organization  embraced  five 
officers,  tutors,  assistants,  teachers,  sub-ushers,  and 
ushers.  The  tutor  had  one  child  to  assist  in  the 
preparation  of  his  lessons,  all  the  children  of  one  class 
becoming  the  tutors  of  the  next  class  below.  The 
assistants  had  charge  of  a  class.  They  were  overlookers 
and  examiners.  They  kept  the  children  at  their 
lessons  when  with  their  tutors,  and  examined  them  in 
class  after  their  lessons  were  prepared.  The  teachers 
had  the  charge  of  two  or  three  classes.  It  was  their 
business  to  take  each  class  in  turn,  examining  and 
stimulating  both  assistants  and  tutors.  The  sub- 
ushers  were  chargeable  with  the  order  and  general 
arrangements,  and  with  the  supply  of  books  and  slates ; 
and  they  were  expected  to  report  to  the  usher  the 
names  of  such  children  as  they  could  not  control. 
The  duties  of  the  usher  were  to  conduct  all  the 
changes  of  the  school,  to  act  as  a  sort  of  general 
superintendent,  and  to  take  the  names  of  all  such  as 
continued  disorderly  after  they  had  been  reported 
by  the  sub-ushers.  These  officers  were  to  prevent  1h.e 


176  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

too  frequent  appearance  of  the  master  in  matters  of 
discipline  and  general  management,  it  being  thought 
that  as  "  familiarity  breeds  contempt,"  his  authority 
would  be  more  efficient  when  he  did  appear. 

At  a  later  period  the  doctor  somewhat  modified  this 
plan.  Tutors  disappear,  and  to  each  class  is  appointed 
a  teacher  and  an  assistant,  the  office  of  the  latter  being 
simply  to  keep  order. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  monitorial  agency  was  o£ 
two  kinds, — some  were  charged  with  matters  of  order 
and  arrangement,  others  with  teaching.  Hence  it  must 
be  obvious  that  any  charges  against  the  one,  or  advan- 
tages attributed  to  it,  do  not  necessarily  hold  in  the 
case  of  the  other.  The  advantages  of  the  monitorial 
system  over  the  individual  system  which  it  displaced 
are  obvious.  It  made  provision  for  stimulating  into 
activity  at  a  number  of  points  at  the  same  time,  and 
thus  converted  the  schoolroom  from  a  scene  of  idleness 
and  mischief  into  one  of  healthy  excitement.  The  in- 
vesting so  many  with  offices  in  connection  with  the 
order  cf  the  school  enlisted  their  co-operation,  and  be- 
came also  a  means  of  influencing  their  companions,  at 
the  same  time  that  the  regular  discharge  of  periodical 
duties  tended  to  form  habits  which  would  be  of  service 
/to  them  in  later  life.  For  employing  monitors  as 
1  teachers,  it  was  argued  that  they  are  better  qualified  to 
impart  instruction  to  each  other,  from  their  greater  sym- 
pathy, and  from  their  understanding  each  other's  stylo 
and  language.  This  may  be  admitted  where  the  object 
sought  is  merely  a  mechanical  one,  or  mere  memoriter 
or  fact  teaching — and  no  wise  teacher  will  refuse  to 
avail  himself  of  such  services  as  they  can  render.  But 


DR.   ANDREW  BELL.  177 

the  limits  of  their  power  should  be  well  understood.  \ 
They  can  instruct,  but  not  educate.  They  want  that 
knowledge  of  mind,  that  influence  of  character,  and 
those  diversified  attainments  which  are  necessary  to 
enable  the  teacher  to  develop  the  mind  and  build 
up  the  character  of  the  children.  Another  argument 
in  favour  of  monitorial  teaching — and,  in  fact,  that 
on  which  it  is  chiefly  grounded — is  that  those  who 
have  but  recently  learnt  a  thing  are  better  able  to 
teach  it,  from  remembering  what  were  their  own  diffi- 
culties. Now  to  this  reason  very  little  weight  must  be 
attached.  For,  first,  the  difficulty  experienced  by  one 
child  in  learning  a  thing  is  not  always  the  difficulty  of 
another.  And  second,  it  seems  absurd  to  say  that  one 
who  has  just  learnt  is  better  able  to  teach  than  he  who, 
having  been  teaching  for  years,  is  acquainted  with  all  the 
difficulties,  and  the  mode  of  removing  or  avoiding  them. 

The  second  feature  of  the  Madras  organization  was  ^ 
its  classification.  It  consisted  of  large  classes  formed 
into  hollow  squares,  and  was  based  upon  reading  only. 
Such  an  arrangement  exists  yet  in~many  scKooE  It 
is  thought,  by  its  advocates,  superior  to  having  separate 
classifications  fer  each  subject,  from  the  more  intimate 
relation  which  thus  subsists  between  the  class  and  its 
teacher,  and  the  greater  responsibility  of  the  latter  for 
the  progress  of  the  children.  But,  apart  Jrom  the  in- 
justice of  retarding  by  school  arrangements  the  progress 
of  a  child  in  an  essential  subject  because  he  is  backward 
in  another,  as  the  reading  classification — even  when 
there  are  different  bases  of  classification — embraces  the 
greatest  portion  of  school  time,  there  is  sufficient  room 
to  hold  one  teacher  responsible  for  the  general  conduct 
N 


178  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

and  character.  -Besides,  there  is  great  advantage,  where 
the  subjects  differ,  in  bringing  children  under  the  action 
of  several  minds,  and  of  throwing  them  into  competition 
with  others  than  those  they  ordinarily  associate  with. 
Bell  adopted  the  system  of  large  classes,  though  un- 
favourable to  each  individual  being  called  upon  with 
that  frequency  which  the  elementary  subjects  require, 
because  he  would  be  more  likely,  having  fewer  classes, 
to  get  good  teachers.  He  also  thought  that  large 
classes  call  forth  superior  emulation,  and  with  fewer 
classes  the  master's  supervision  would  be  more  effective. 
To  keep  his  classes  on  competing  terms,  without  which 
emulation  would  be  impossible,  when  a  boy  kept  uni- 
formly near  the  head  or  foot  of  his  class  he  was  re- 
moved to  the  next  above  or  below. 

The  third  feature  of  the  Madras  organization  was  the 
arrangements  of  the  schoolroom.  The  objects  to  be 
secured  in  this  part  of  organization  are  effective  super- 
intendence, combined  with  such  isolation  of  the  classes 
as  will  prevent  one  class  interfering  in  any  way  with 
the  efficiency  of  another.  Dr.  Bell  doubtless  took  his 
whole  organization  from  the  parade-ground.  The  ar- 
rangement into  hollow  squares,  the  gradation  and  sub- 
ordination of  officers,  the  platform,  the  precision  of  the 
mechanical  movements  directed  and  controlled  through 
subordinate  agency,  are  all  suggestions  of  that  military 
organization  with  which  his  duties  as  chaplain  at 
Madras  made  him  familiar. 

SCHOOL-KEEPING. — School-keeping  includes  under 
it  all  those  important  matters  in  which  the  master  is 
chief  agent,  whichdo  not  belong  either  to  method, 
organization,  or  discipline.  Thus  it  includes  the  duties 


DR.  ANDREW   BELL.  179 

which  fall  specially  to  the  master  respecting  the  working 
of  the  school — his  relations  with  the  children  and  their 
parents — his  arrangements  to  secure  punctuality,  regu- 
larity, and  cleanliness  —  the  keeping  of  registers — the 
means  taken  to  keep  the  school  in  the  public  eye, — 
everything,  in  fact,  which  more  nearly  concerns  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  school.  We  often  hear  of  a 
man  being  a  good  disciplinarian,  but  a  bad  school- 
keeper  ;  of  another  being  an  excellent  teacher,  but  no 
school-keeper ;  and  men  are  sometimes  pointed  out 
whose  fuLl  schools  show  their  good  school- keeping, 
although  they  are  not  remarkable  either  for  their  power 
of  moral  discipline  or  for  their  ability  to  teach. 

Good  school-keeping  is  comparatively  rare.  Many 
teachers  think  that  some  of  its  requisites  are  such  trifles 
as  to  be  beneath  their  attention  ;  others,  that  some  of 
the  practices  are  fit  objects  of  contempt  rather  than  of 
imitation ;  while  not  a  few  are  satisfied  if  their  methods 
are  good,their  organization  unimpeachable,  and  their  dis- 
cipline generallyetfective.  But  good  school-keeping  is  an 
art  not  to  be  despised.  It  has  so  great  an  influence  in 
filling  a  school,  that  no  man  who  cares  for  a  full  school 
will  think  it  prudent  to  neglect  it.  School-keeping, 
as  an  art,  was  in  Bell's  days  in  its  infancy,  so  tha 
there  is  little  to  learn  from  him,  but  that  little  is 
highly  suggestive.  An  essential  feature  of  good  \ 
school-keeping  is  the  master's  influence  being  felt  in 
every  part  of  the  school  continually.  To  this  Bell  at- 
tached the  highest  importance.  He  says,  "  It  is  the 
master's  unceasing  duty  to  direct,  guide,  and  control 
the  uniform  and  impartial  execution  of  the  laws  in  all 
the  departments  of  the  school,  so  as  to  render  them 


180  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

effectual  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  framed. 
These  are  to  maintain  quiet  and  order,  to  give  full  scope 
to  the  love  of  imitation  and  spirit  of  emulation,  so  as 
to  promote  diligence  and  delight,  advance  the  general 
progress,  imbue  the  infant  mind  with  the  first  princi- 
ples of  morality  and  religion,  and  implant  in  the  tender 
heart  habits  of  method,  order,  and  piety."  Of  the 
manner  of  doing  this  he  says :  "  From  his  place  h« 
overlooks  the  whole  school,  and  gives  life  and  motion 
to  every  member  of  it.  He  inspects  the  classes  one  by 
one,  and  is  occupied  wherever  there  is  most  occasion  for 
his  services,  and  where  they  will  best  tell.  He  is  to 
encourage  the  diffident,  the  timid,  and  the  backward; 
to  check  and  repress  the  forward  and  presumptuous  ; 
to  bestow  just  and  ample  commendation  upon  the  dili- 
gent, attentive,  and  orderly,  however  dull  their  capacity 
or  slow  their  progress ;  to  stimulate  the  ambitious,  rouse 
the  indolent,  and  make  the  idle  bestir  themselves  :  in 
short,  to  deal  out  praise  and  displeasure,  encouragement 
and  threatening,  according  to  the  temper,  disposition, 
and  genius  of  the  scholar.  He  is  occasionally  to  hear 
and  instruct  the  classes,  or  rather,  overlook  and  direct 
the  teachers  and  assistants  while  they  do  so.  It  is  his 
chief  business  to  see  that  others  work,  rather  than  work 
himself."  The  fault  of  Dr.  Bell's  system  here  is — not 
in  attaching  too  much  importance  to  effective  supervi- 
sion, that  could  scarcely  be,  but  in  making  no  provision 
for  the  direct  action  of  the  master's  mind  in  the  process 
of  the  child's  instruction.  Yet  it  is  of  equal  import- 
ance that  the  master  should  come  in  contact  daily  with 
each  child  in  his  progress  through  the  school,  as  that 
he  should  keep  the  entire  machinery  oiled  and  in  motion. 


DR.  ANDREW  BELL.  181 

Another  element  in  good  school-keeping  is  to  have 
arrangements  by  which  the  master  may  know  all  par- 
ticulars of  the  progress  of  every  child  and  of  every 
class,  so  that  he  may  give  special  attention  to  the  dull 
and  backward,  and  stimulate  to  activity  the  idle 
•whether  amongst  teachers  or  children.  Dr.  Bell's  plans 
of  doing  this  were  simple  and  effective.  Each  boy 
able  to  write  made  an  entry  every  night  on  a  sheet 
at  the  end  of  his  book  of  his  work  for  that  day.  The 
result  was  tabulated  at  the  end  of  the  month  in  a 
book  called  a  Paidometer.  "The  Paidometer,"  says 
Dr.  Bell,  "shows  each  child's  monthly  progress, 
from  his  admission  into  the  school,  to  leaving  it,  in 
twelve  triple  columns,  in  which,  on  the  last  day  of 
every  month  are  entered  the  book  page,  and  stage  of 
the  course  at  which  the  scholar  is  arrived  in  his  reading, 
ciphering,  and  religious  rehearsals.  A  single  line  on  a 
folio  sheet  comprehends  the  progress  of  each  child  for 
a  year."  Besides  this  there  was  a  Weekly  Register 
which  contained  a  summary  of  the  daily  attendance  and 
work  kept  by  the  teacher  of  each  class.  It  must  be 
evident  that  the  value  of  such  records  depends  on  the 
faithfulness  with  which  they  are  kept.  The  means  to  se- 
cure this  was  in  the  periodical  examinations.  Coming  to 
a  class  for  this  purpose,  the  master  asked  for  this  Paid- 
ometer and  Weekly  Register,  and  proceeded  to  examine 
the  class  in  the  work  professed  to  have  been  done. 

Another  element  of  good  school-keeping  is  to  bring 
before  visitors  the  good  points  of  a  school,  as  well  as 
any  special  things  in  which  individual  children  excel. 
Dr.  Bell  attached  importance  to  this,  because  of  its  in- 
fluence alike  on  teachers  and  children  in  promoting 


182  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

emulation.  He  points  out  that  it  is  the  mark  of  a 
weak  master  to  be  satisfied  with  showing  the  first  class, 
and  he  attributes  the  deterioration  of  some  schools  to 
the  neglect  by  some  masters  of  "trotting  out"  the 
younger  ones  as  well  as  the  older  ones. 

DISCIPLINE. — "  Were  it  required  to  say,"  says  Dr. 
Bell,  "  in  one  word,  by  what  means  the  primary  and 
essential  requisites,  attention  and  exertion,  are  to  be 
called  forth,  that  word  were  discipline.  Its  original 
meaning  is  learning,  education,  and  instruction,  but  it 
has  come,  as  often  happens,  to  signify  the  means  by 
which  this  end  is  attained,  whether  it  be  the  method, 
order,  and  rule  observed  in  teaching,  or  the  punish- 
ment and  correction  employed."  The  importance 
attached  by  Bell  to  discipline  as  a  system  of  means  to 
secure  the  great  objects  of  the  school  may  be  seen  in 
his  saying,  "  It  is  in  a  school  as  in  an  army,  disci- 
pline is  the  first,  second,  and  third  essential."  The 
means  which  he  includes  in  this  term  "  are  arrange- 
ment, method,  and  order ;  vigilance,  emulation,  praise, 
and  dispraise  ;  favour  and  disgrace,  hope  and  fear ; 
rewards  and  punishments ;  and  especially  guarding 
against  whatever  is  tedious,  difficult,  operose,  and  irk- 
some, and  rendering  every  task  prescribed  to  the 
scholar  short,  simple,  easy,  adapted,  and  intelligible." 

The  prevention  of  wrong-doing  is  one  of  the  objects 
sought  in  these  measures — an  object  deserving  every 
master's  serious  attention.  To  do  this,  some  of  Bell's 
measures  were  admirably  adapted,  (a)  Many  of  the 
offences  against  order  proceed  from  the  lessons  not 
being  adapted  in  length  and  difficulty  to  the  age  and 
etage  of  the  children.  In,  this  case,  the  children  not 


D1J.   ANDKENV   BELL.  183 

being  interested  in  their  employment,  either  become 
listless,  go  off  fairy-rambling,  or  seek  employment  of  a 
more  congenial  description.  (&)  Often  offences  are 
traceable  to  the  presence  in  school  of  boys  of  bad  habits 
or  evil  dispositions  "  A  master,"  says  Long,  "  in 
taking  charge  of  a  school  undertakes  to  govern  and 
instruct  a  number  of  individuals,  who  have  been 
brought  up  in  a  variety  of  ways,  some  with  bad  habits, 
some  with  good,  but  all  with  some  peculiarities  or 
propensities ;  "  hence  the  necessity  of  vigilant  superin- 
tendence, that  such  as  are  of  bad  habits  may  be  re- 
strained by  the  certainty  of  discovery,  joined  to  a 
wholesome  fear  of  correction,  (c)  All  lads  prefer  a 
strict  discipline  to  a  lax  one.  All  like  method,  order, 
regularity,  and  to  act  as  one  of  a  body.  The  military 
arrangements,  the  variety,  promptness,  and  precision 
of  the  movements,  therefore,  introduced  by  Bell,  were 
admirably  calculated  to  prevent  wrong-doing,  by  accus- 
toming them  to  act  in  obedience  to  system,  and  so 
tended  to  form  habits  of  order  and  attention. 

A.  higher  aim  in  discipline  than  the  prevention  of 
disorder,  idleness,  or  noise,  or  even  than  the  obtaining 
of  military  order,  is  to  incite  children  to  put  forth 
efforts  for  their  own  personal  improvement.  The  signs 
of  such  a  discipline  are  in  the  willing  attention,  con- 
stant diligence,  respectful  demeanour,  and  kindly 
intercourse  of  the  scholars.  Where  these  are  found, 
the  basis  is  being  laid  of  a  high,  noble,  and  virtuous 
character.  Their  attainment  depends  more  on  the 
earnestness  of  the  teacher's  character,  and  on  the  per- 
sonal influence  which  springs  therefrom,  than  on  the 
means  employed.  So  thought  Bell,  yet  he  was  not 


184  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

indifferent  to  the  use  of  means  having  this  tendency. 
Praise  wherever  it  was  due,  special  marks  of  favour  to 
those  who  distinguished  themselves  by  their  diligence 
and  good  conduct,  were  among  the  subsidiary  means  ; 
but  his  chief  dependence  was  on  the  principle  of 
emulation,  and  on  the  means  to  bring  it  into  operation. 
"  Emulation,"  he  says,  "though  not  a  new  principle, 
is  so  perpetual  and  powerful  an  agent  in  the  Madras 
school  as  to  have  had  the  propriety  of  using  it  seriously 
questioned."  The  objections  urged  then  and -urged 
still  seemed  to  have  proceeded  either  from  confounding 
it  with  something  else,  or  because  of  its  liability  to 
abuse.  The  objections  are  that  it  is  unscriptural,  and 
productive  of  much  evil ;  to  which  it  is  replied,  "  In 
its  strict  literal  signification  it  denotes  an  earnest 
desire  and  contention  to  outstrip  others,  not  to  obstruct 
them,  much  less  to  thrust  them  back;  that  in  this 
sense  it  is  a  natural  principle  implanted  in  the  human 
breast  by  the  Creator  for  the  wisest  and  noblest  pur- 
poses ;  and  that  its  being  productive  of  good  or  evil 
depends  on  the  source  whence  it  originates,  and  the 
objects  to  which  it  is  applied."  To  set  forth  still 
more  clearly  his  view  of  what  emulation  is,  he  thus 
quotes  from  Aristotle  : — "Emulation  is  a  painful  soli- 
citude, occasioned  by  there  being  presented  to  our  notice* 
and  placed  within  our  reach  in  the  possession  of  those, 
who  are  by  nature  our  fellows,  things  at  once  good  and 
honourable;  not  because  they  belong  to  them,  but 
because  they  do  not  also  belong  to  us."  "  Contrasted 
with  envy — a  base  passion,  inherent  in  mean  souls, 
who  seek  not  to  exalt  themselves,  but  to  depress  their 
fellows — is  this  generous  principle  of  emulation." 


DR.   ANDREW   BELL.  185 

This  principle  is  brought  into  operation  by  the  clas- 
sification of  a  school,  and  by  an  arrangement  which 
quickly  removes  to  a  higher  class  one  who  has  kept 
ahead  of  his  fellows,  or  places  him  in  a  lower  one  if  he 
is  found  invariably  below  them.  The  means  intro- 
duced by  Bell  to  test  this  relative  proficiency,  and  to 
excite  the  effort  necessary  to  fit  for  removal,  was  place- 
taking.  The  value  of  place-taking  in  eliciting  emula- 
tion must  depend  on  the  competition  taking  place  on 
equal  terms.  Bell  seems  to  have  thought  that  this 
would  be  the  case  where  the  children  were  properly 
classified.  Perhaps  he  was  to  some  extent  right, 
when  the  subjects  are  simply  mechanical;  as  place- 
taking  may  then  stimulate  to  exertion,  so  that  by  this 
and  perseverance,  weakness  of  natural  endowment  may 
be  compensated  for  by  acquired  power, — as  in  the 
power  of  the  eye  to  retain  forms ;  but  not  so  in  those 
which  demand  a  higher  intelligence  because  of  the 
diversities  of  character,  and  of  mental  powers  found 
among  children.  Hence  it  has  been  objected  to  place- 
taking  that  it  rewards  boisterous  impudence  and  self- 
confidence,  and  punishes  the  higher  qualities  of  gentle- 
ness and  modesty. 

The  treatment  of  offences  so  as  to  secure  "the 
amendment  of  offenders,  and  the  deterring  others 
from  committing  faults,"  is  an  important  object  of  dis- 
cipline. To  secure  amendment,  and  to  deter  others 
from  wrong,  Bell  thought  that  "much  depended  on 
making  every  boy  in  the  school  sensible  that  you  have 
in  view  only  his  good."  "  That  their  daily  experience 
of  your  conduct  towards  them  must  lead  them  to  con- 
sider you  as  their  friend,  their  benefactor,  their  guide, 


186  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

and  their  parent."  He  also  thought  it  important  that 
a  record  of  each  child's  offences  should  be  kept.  The 
object  was  twofold.  To  prevent  the  awarding  of  pun- 
ishment at  the  moment  of  offence,  and  before  a  calm 
investigation  of  it  had  taken  place,  and  to  furnish 
evidence  of  the  improvement  or  otherwise  in  the 
pupil's  conduct  and  character.  Bell  also  attached 
much  importance  to  the  influence  which  the  opinions 
of  boys  have  on  the  feelings  and  practices  of  their 
companions.  Hence  he  had  a  system  of  trial  by  jury, 
in  which  the  boys  themselves  had  to  determine  the 
innocence  or  guilt  of  their  fellows.  He  says  that  he 
"  had  never  had  reason  to  think  their  decision  partial, 
biassed,  or  unjust,  or  to  interfere  with  their  award, 
otherwise  than  to  remit  or  mitigate  the  punishment," 
when  the  end  might  be  accomplished  by  the  simple 
expression  of  condemnation  by  his  fellows. 

Punishment — what  is  its  design  ?  Three  answers 
have  been  given  to  the  question : — 

1.  To  expiate  the  offence  by  a  just  penalty. 

2.  To  reform  the  offender,  and  to  deter  others  from 
doing  wrong. 

3.  To  expiate  the  offence,  and  to  deter  others  from 
doing  wrong. 

Now,  in  reference  to  punishments  in  school,  it  has 
ever  been  held  of  importance  by  the  most  thoughtful 
educationists  to  make  a  distinction  between  moral 
offences  and  those  which  are  simply  breaches  of  order, 
or  of  school  laws  in  themselves  indifferent.  To  treat 
both  alike  tends  to  confound  in  the  minds  of  children 
moral  distinctions  with  merely  conventional  rules. 
With  respect  to  moral  offences,  there  has  never  been  a 


DR.   ANDREW  BELL.  187 

doubt  of  the  duty  to  impress  children  with  the  fact 
that  any  punishment  they  receive  from  their  parents 
or  masters  does  not  expiate  their  sin,  that  it  does  not 
entitle  them  to  forgiveness,  and  that  without  real  and 
cordial  concern  for  their  fault  they  cannot  be  treated 
on  the  same  terms  as  before  they  did  wrong.  Such 
being  the  case,  the  term  punishment  does  not  rightly 
describe  the  object  in  view ;  hence  the  term  correction 
would  be  better.  The  design  of  it  is  to  reform  the 
offender  by  correcting  what  is  wrong,  and  to  deter 
others  from  doing  wrong  by  associating  indelibly  the 
ideas  of  sin  and  pain — that  where  the  first  is,  the  other 
sooner  or  later  must  follow.  With  respect  to  the 
second  class  of  offences,  Bell  seems  to  have  held  that 
the  punishment  should  be  so  adapted  to  the  offence 
that  it  would  not  only  tend  to  reform  and  deter,  but  in 
some  measure  satisfy  the  claims. of  right  and  justice. 
Thus,  if  a  task  was  not  performed  when  appointed,  he 
thought  that  keeping  the  pupil  from  play  to  learn  it 
was  the  only  penalty  the  case  required. 

All  punishment  aims  at  a  moral  result.  Anything 
short  of  this  is  not  punishment.  To  produce  a  moral 
result  the  mind  must  be  reached.  Bell,  aware  of  this, 
employed  reproof,  deprived  of  some  anticipated  plea- 
sure, or  forbade  the  offender  the  company  of  his  school- 
fellows, and,  where  other  means  failed,  corporal  pun- 
ishment. Reproof  is  often  a  severe  and  effective 
punishment.  Its  being  so  depends  partly  on  the 
degree  of  esteem  in  which  the  master  is  held,  partly  on 
the  delicacy  with  v*hich  it  is  administered,  and  partly 
on  its  not  being  too  frequent.  Reproof  should  be 
given  privately ;  rude  exposure  only  tends  to  blunt  the 


188  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

feelings  of  the  culprit,  and  to  awaken  the  sympathies 
of  the  bystanders  in  his  favour.  Abbott  says,  "  In 
many  cases  where  a  fault  has  been  publicly  committed, 
it  seems  at  first  view  to  be  necessary  that  it  should  be 
publicly  punished ;  but  the  end  will,  in  most  cases,  be 
answered  if  it  is  noticed  publicly,  so  that  the  pupils 
may  know  that  it  received  attention,  and  then  the 
ultimate  disposal  of  the  case  may  be  made  a  private 
aifair  between  the  teacher  and  the  individual  con- 
cerned." In  many  cases  the  communication  may  be 
made  most  delicately  and  most  successfully  in  writing. 
The  more  delicately  you  touch  the  feelings  of  your 
pupils,  the  more  tender  these  feelings  become.  Many 
a  teacher  hardens  and  stupefies  the  moral  sense  of  his 
pupils  by  the  harsh  and  rough  exposures  to  which  he 
drags  out  the  private  feelings  of  the  heart.  A  man 
may  easily  produce  such  a  state  of  feeling  in  his  school, 
that  to  address  even  the  gentlest  reproof  to  any  indi- 
vidual in  the  hearing  of  the  rest  would  be  a  most 
severe  punishment;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  he  may 
so  destroy  that  sensitiveness  that  his  vociferated  re- 
proaches will,  as  Madame  decker  observes,  "pass  by 
him  as  a  storm,  he  sheltering  himself  the  while  under 
the  cover  of  indifference  or  resentment."  In  cases  where 
more  than  reproof  is  needed,  Bell  was  of  opinion  that 
to  deprive  of  enjoyment  is  more  effective  than  to  inflict 
pain.  Bodily  pain  is  but  momentary,  but  to  keep 
from  play  or  to  detain  after  school  hours  compels  the 
attention  for  a  longer  time  to  the  offence,  and  to  what 
it  deserves. 

In  some  of  the  worst  cases  he  would  forbid  the  lad 
the  companionship  of  his  schoolfellows.     This  to  a  lad 


JOSEPH   LANCASTER.  189 

is  often  the  severest  punishment  you  can  inflict.  It 
appeals  at  once  to  his  self-respect.  That  he  is  not 
thought  deserving  to  associate  with  other  boys  wounds 
him  to  the  quick.  It  also  addresses  itself  to  his  con- 
science, which  gives  the  sanction  of  its  authority  to  the 
feeling  that  such  as  are  doers  of  evil  are  not  fit  to 
associate  with  the  good. 

Bell  objected  to  corporal  punishment.  He  thought 
the  cases  few  where  it  was  needed.  As  generally  em- 
ployed it  effects  no  good,  as  its  impression  is  but 
momentary ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  its  tendency  is 
to  degrade  and  harden.  Bell  thought  that  its  employ- 
ment could  be  justified  only  in  the  case  of  the  weak- 
minded  master,  who  had  no  other  means  of  govern- 
ment. "  Its  use,"  he  says,  "  is  a  sign  of  poverty  and 
destitution."  It  betrays  ignorance  of  mind  as  well  as 
want  of  power  over  it. 

Section  II. — Joseph  Lancaster. 

AIMS  AND  PRINCIPLES. — The  year  following  that  in 
which  Bell  introduced  his  system  into  this  country, 
Joseph  Lancaster  opened  a  school  in  the  Borough 
Road,  Southwark.  The  son  of  a  common  soldier^ 
himself,  previously  to  his  great  enterprise,  a  seaman  in 
the  navy,  without  funds,  but  enthusiastic  and  benevo- 
lent, he  started  the  noble  project  of  giving  instruction 
to  the  destitute  poor.  Becoming  acquainted  with  the 
Madras  system,  he  sought  to  realize  Bell's  conception, 
and  with  so  much  success  that  ere  he  was  twenty 
he  had  gathered  a  school  of  1,000  children.  As  an 
example  of  enthusiastic  devotion  to  the  highest 


390  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

though  least  esteemed  and  worst  paid  of  all  professions, 
Lancaster  is  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  all  engaged  in  it. 
Some  degree  of  enthusiasm  seems  necessary  to  hring 
any  enterprise  to  a  successful  issue,  but  especially  is 
enthusiasm  essential  to  success  in  the  work  of  education. 
Its  high  and  noble  objects,  the  culture  of  the  mind 
and  the  formation  of  character,  can  never  be  fully 
attained  but  by  men  in  whom  the  love  of  education 
is  an  all-absorbing  passion.  Nor  is  it  impossible  to 
attain  such  enthusiasm,  though  it  is  easier  in  some 
cases  than  in  others.  Some  seem  to  be  endowed  with 
an  enthusiastic  spirit,  and  whatever  the  pursuit,  they 
engage  in  it  with  all  their  soul.  Lancaster  was  one  of 
these,  but  although  all  cannot  as  readily  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  this  great  work,  yet  by  accustoming  themselves 
to  think  often  on  the  greatness  of  the  objects  sought, 
they  will  succeed  at  length  in  awakening  in  themselves 
some  portion  of  this  spirit. 

S  The  province  of  the  school,  according  to  Lancaster, 
/  is  "to  train  children  in  the  practice  of  such  moral 
habits  as  are  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  society,"  as 
well  as  to  impart  instruction  in  useful  learning.  Moral 
training  was  held  by  him — and  justly — to  be  insepa- 
rable from  religious  instruction.  Here,  and  here  only, 
have  we  that  sanction  and  that  morality  which 
the  conscience  recognises,  and  here  only  have  we 
those  motives  by  which  the  will  can  be  permanently 
influenced.  It  is  well  to  bear  this  in  mind.  While 
we  insist  on  the  practice  of  moral  duties,  and  the 
exercises  of  the  moral  faculties,  as  the  principal  agents 
in  moral  discipline,  we  must  not  place  religious  teaching 
in  a  low  or  subordinate  place.  Nay,  we  must  place  it 


JOSEPH   LANCASTER.  191 

first — first  in  the  class  of  motives — first  as  an  instru- 
ment.  Our  Saviour,  in  His  ever-memorable  prayer, 
says,  "Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth,  Thy  word 
is  truth."  Now  this  implies  that  the  truth  is  known. 
Let  us  then  present  religious  truth  to  the  young 
mind — lodge  it  in  the  memory — make  it  clear  to  the 
intelligence — employ  it  so  as  to  call  forth  emotion — 
but,  above  all,  address  it  to  the  conscience,  and  thus 
endeavour  to  secure  its  action  on  the  life. 

METHODS. — Method  made  but  little  advance  in  the 
hands  of  Lancaster.  It  was  chiefly  in  the  arrangements 
to  secure  progress,  and  in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic, 
that  we  discover  any  differences  betwixt  himself  and 
Dr.  Bell.  Lancaster  seems  to  have  had  a  glimmering 
of  a  truth,  which  must  have  been  practically  recognised 
by  every  successful  teacher,  though  often  overlooked, 
namely,  that  school  life  has  distinct  periods,  in  each  of 
which  there  is  a  special  object,  by  which  its  subjects 
and  methods  must  be  determined.  He  divides  school 
life  into  two  periods.  The  first  is  one  in  which  the 
child  should  receive  all  the  aid  which  his  teacher 
can  give  him,  consistently  with  training  him  to  self- 
helpfulness,  in  acquiring  those  instruments  which  are 
required  to  the  successful  pursuit  of  knowledge.  The 
second  in  which  he  should  bo  taught  to  apply  what 
he  has  acquired  to  the  study  of  other  branches,  being 
thrown,  in  doing  so,  as  much  as  possible  on  his  own 
resources.  The  value  of  thus  dividing  school  life  into 
periods  is,  that  by  clearly  defining  what  you  can 
accomplish,  and  laying  distinctly  down  what  you  may 
attempt  with  a  probability  of  success,  your  labours 
become  more  determinate,  and  the  results  obtained 


192  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

more  perfect  than  when  you  work  without  a  well- 
defined  aim,  or  without  reference  to  what  mental 
development,  or  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  require?. 
The  necessity  of  such  a  graduation  of  lessons,  in 
which  each  will  prepare  for  and  be  repeated  in  those 
which  succeed,  was  practically  recognised  by  both  the 
founders  of  the  monitorial  system.  But  Lancaster 
had  a  better  appreciation  of  what  was  required  to 
accomplish  it.  In  learning  to  read,  the  number  of 
words  to  be  mastered  before  there  can  be  ability  to 
read  any  book  is  so  great,  that  only  he  who  gets  much 
reading—  much  not  in  a  single  lesson,  but  in  a  variety 
of  lessons — can  hope  speedily  to  overtake  the  task. 
This  plain  fact  is  often  forgotten,  and  by  none  so 
much  as  those  who  with  Bell  have  reading  taught  in 
large  classes,  instead  of  with  Lancaster,  in  small  drafts. 
The  small  drafts  enabled  Lancaster  to  have  three 
grades  of  lessons  where  Bell  had  but  one,  and  thus 
provided  for  a  larger  amount  of  reading  as  well  as  for 
a  better  graduation  of  difficulties.  The  same  arrange- 
ment also  secured  the  second  great  essential  to  progress 
in  this  as  in  every  other  mechanical  art  —  much 
practice.  It  is  obvious  that  children  in  Lancaster's 
school  would  have  three  times  the  amount  of  practice 
which  they  had  in  Dr.  Bell's,  as  well  as  three  times 
the  variety  of  lessons. 

A  great  improvement  introduced  by  Lancaster  was 
in  the  teaching  of  Arithmetic  Hitherto  the  instruc 
tion,  as  in  reading  and  writing,  had  been  individual. 
Lancaster  applied  the  class  system  to  it,  and  with 
better  results  than  were  obtained  in  reading.  This 
was  due  to  all  working  at  once,  emulation  being  thus, 


JOSEPH   LANCASTER.  193 

more  easily  excited,  and  the  attention  kept  up,  than 
when  only  one  was  actively  engaged  as  in  reading. 
In  teaching  arithmetic  Lancaster  had  the  following 
plans  : — The  basis  of  progress  was  placed  in  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  tables.  In  every  new  rule  the 
examples  were  at  first  short  and  easy,  increasing  in 
length  and  difficulty  with  the  power  of  the  learner. 
Each  class  had  a  definite  number  of  examples,  which 
were  written  in  a  book  kept  by  the  monitor,  and  these 
were  worked  over  and  over  again,  until  they  could  be 
worked  with  facility  and  despatch.  In  teaching  a  new 
rule,  a  monitor  dictated  an  example ;  he  then  worked 
it  out,  the  scholars  following  him  on  their  slates ;  then 
the  slates  were  cleaned,  the  example  written  on  the 
B.  B.,  and  each  boy  in  turn  took  a  part  of  the  opera- 
tion. This  was  persisted  in  until  the  mode  of  working 
was  understood. 

ORGANIZATION. — Schoolroom  Arrangements.- — In  the 
plan  of  his  schoolroom  Lancaster  shows  the  influence 
of  early  associations  on  the  practices  of  maturer  years. 
He  doubtless  had  a  ship  of  war  in  his  eye  when  he 
planned  his  room.  The  length  of  the  room  was  nearly 
twice  the  width,  the  area  was  filled  with  parallel  desks, 
a  space  of  about  six  feet  was  left  round  the  room  for 
draft  teaching,  and  at  one  end  was  a  raised  platform, 
from  which  all  orders  were  issued,  and  from  which 
the  whole  could  be  inspected.  Opposite  each  draft 
a  black-board  was  suspended,  that  the  monitor  might 
illustrate  any  difficulty  that  occurred  in  the  reading, 
spelling,  or  arithmetic  lessons.  There  was  fastened 
to  the  wall,  at  the  height  of  about  five  feet,  a  small 
open  box  in  which  the  books  and  slates  of  the  draft 
0 


194  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

were  kept.  At  the  distance  of  eighteen  inches  there 
were  slates  so  let  into  the  desk  as  to  be  level  with  the 
top — an  arrangement  that  was  made  to  prevent  noise, 
save  time,  and  preserve  from  breakages.  In  all  these 
arrangements  the  intention  was  to  economize  the  noise 
and  labour  of  working  the  school,  and  also  to  give 
the  master  the  power  to  act  on  the  whole  or  a  part  at 
pleasure. 

Classification. — It  has  been  already  pointed  out  that 
Lancaster,  recognising  two  great  purposes  in  school 
life,  one  of  supplying  the  instruments  of  learning,  the 
other  of  teaching  their  application  to  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  formed  his  school  into  two  great  di- 
visions corresponding  to  these  aims.  In  respect  of 
the  basis  of  classification',  having  seen  the  advantages 
of  united  practice  in  reading  and  spelling,  he  applied 
the  same  process  to  arithmetic,  which  had  hitherto 
been  taught,  as  were  all  the  arts,  on  the  individual 
method.  A  very  little  experience  convinced  him  that 
class  teaching  was  more  successful  in  arithmetic  than 
in  reading,  because  of  the  greater  difficulty  in  the 
latter  case  of  keeping  all  employed.  He  also  soon 
made  the  discovery  that  to  keep  up  a  healthy  emulation 
with  equable  progress,  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  dis- 
tinct classification  for  arithmetic,  as  the  scholar's  rate 
of  progress  was  very  variable  in  the  two  subjects. 
With  respect  to  the  size  of  a  class,  that  must  depend 
on  the  number  of  children  in  a  school,  since  the  stages 
of  the  learner's  progress  are  pretty  well  defined ;  but 
when  these  classes  come  to  practise  reading,  spelling, 
and  arithmetic,  Lancaster  would  have  only  such  a 
number  grouped  as  would  give  frequent  practice. 


JOSEPH   LANCASTER.  195 

More  practical  than  Bell,  and  perhaps  more  me- 
chanical, and  not  so  sanguine  of  a  monitor's  power  to 
keep  a  large  numher  actively  employed,  he  attached 
value  to  frequency  of  practice.  On  the  other  hand, 
Bell  thought  that,  having  fewer  classes  and  securing 
better  teachers,  he  would  get  a  higher  intelligence, 
which  would  more  than  compensate  for  any  mechanical 
loss.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  in  relation  to  these 
opinions,  that  although  an  intelligent  lad  will  need 
shorter  practice  than  one  less  intelligent,  yet  frequent 
practice  is  as  much  required  in  the  one  case  as  in  the 
other,  the  only  difference  being  that  the  one  will  pass 
through  the  various  stages  more  rapidly  than  the  other. 
Certain  it  is  that  a  clever  fellow,  applying  himself  at 
distant  intervals,  will  not  make  the  progress  of  him 
who — less  gifted — applies  himself  at  the  lapse  of  short 
periods. 

Working  and  Teaching  Power — In  working  the 
school  Lancaster  had  a  head  monitor,  who  was  charged 
with  the  changes,  the  order,  and  the  general  arrange- 
ments, thus  leaving  the  master  to  devote  his  attention 
to  superintendence  and  to  cases  of  discipline.  The  head 
monitor  was  assisted  by  monitors  of  order,  who  had 
charge  of  class  lists,  looked  after  absentees,  and  sup- 
plied the  classes  with  whatever  they  required.  To 
each  class  was  appointed  a  superior  monitor,  whose 
business  it  was  to  test  the  work  of  the  monitors  of 
drafts,  and  to  superintend  all  the  work  in  desks. 
Besides  these  there  were  inspectors,  whose  business  it 
was  to  examine  periodically  every  class,  give  to  each 
scholar  a  thorough  sifting,  and  to  pass  on  to  a  higher 
class  every  one  who  was  fit  for  removal.  This  system 


196  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

was  due  to  the  importance  attached  by  Lancaster  to 
keeping  every  boy  employed,  to  having  checks  on  the 
work  of  the  monitors,  the  progress  of  the  scholars, 
and  on  their  attendance  ;  and  to  the  great  advantage 
to  the  discipline  of  the  school  of  enlisting  the  co- 
operation of  as  large  a  number  as  was-  possible. 

DISCIPLINE. — Lancaster,  as  might  be  expected,  fell 
into  some  errors  in  the  details  of  discipline,  but  he 
shows  himself  to  have  been  well  versed  in  the  art  of 
government,  and  to  have  had  considerable  insight  into 
3hild-nature,  and  the  motives  by  which  it  is  influenced. 
Exception  has  been  justly  taken  to  his  appealing  in 
some  instances  to  the  lower  and  more  sordid  feelings, 
and  also  to  the  punishments  he  employed,  but  his 
general  principles  are  those  on  which  the  success  of  all 
school  government  depends. 

He  lays  its  foundations  in  the  influence  of  the  master, 
the  power  of  public  opinion,  the  co-operation  of  the 
leading  children,  the  distribution  of  honourable  distinc- 
tions and  rewards,  the  judicious  use  of  emulation,  the 
value  of  drill,  of  constant  employment,  and  of  conduct- 
ing all  movements  by  signals,  and  on  punishments 
varying  in  kind,  and  being  administered  without 
ruffling  the  temper  of  the  master. 

"  The  personal  character  of  the  master,  the  influence 
which  he  establishes  in  his  school,  and  the  feelings  with 
which  he  inspires  his  scholars,  are  now  generally  ac- 
knowledged as  the  chief  sources  of  discipline  and 
government.  It  is  often  said  that  a  master  has  more 
need  to  watch  himself  than  his  children,  as  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  the  disorder  or  disobedience  found  in 
a  school  is  traceable  to  some  omission,  inconsiderate- 


JOSEPH  LANCASTER.  197 

ness,  hastiness  of  temper,  or  want  of  firmness  in  him- 
self." To  the  same  effect  the  good  discipline  of  a  school 
is  invariably  attributed  to  the  ascendency  of  the 
master's  character,  and  not  to  the  means  he  employs, 
only  so  far  as  they  help  to  establish  it.  So  Abbott, 
after  detailing  some  admirable  plans  for  promoting 
moral  influence,  says  "  that  they  will  depend  for  their 
success,  not  so  much  on  their  adaptation  to  human 
nature,  as  on  the  character  of  the  man  by  whom  they 
are  employed." 

A  thorough  conviction  of  this  would  be  found  to  be 
an  earnest  of  success  to  the  young  schoolmaster  who  is 
really  ambitious  to  be  an  educator.  "  Not  that  the 
character  can  be  assumed  at  pleasure,  for  this,  like  all 
character,  has  its  roots  in  the  soil  of  past  years.  No, 
nothing  can  appear  in  the  character  of  a  man  that  has 
not  grown  there.  The  lesson  of  to-day  could  not  be 
said  if  it  had  not  been  preceded  by  tb.6se  of  yesterday, 
and  many  days  before  it.  And  if  a  man  attempt  the 
deception  of  appearing  what  he  is  not,  the  moment  of 
entering  the  presence  of  children  strips  him  of  his  dis- 
guise, '  no  admittance  for  shams  '  being  written  on  the 
portals  of  every  temple  of  youth."  Still  a  conviction  of 
the  truth  that  personal  character  is  the  source  of  what 
his  school  will  become  must  point  out  to  the  young 
master  the  necessity  of  that  personal  discipline  without 
which  he  must  miserably  fail  in  any  attempt  to  achieve 
what  is  great  and  good. 

Next  to  the  personal  influence  of  the  master,  Lan- 
caster places  the  power  of  public  opinion,  the 
latter  indeed  springing  from  the  former.  By  the 
public  opinion  of  the  school,  he  means  the 


198  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

opinion  which  pervades  the  mass  of  children 
respecting  their  school  and  their  teacher,  and  what- 
ever concerns  either  the  one  or  the  other.  Lancaster 
points  to  the  existence  of  such  a  feeling  in  the  rivalry 
which  sometimes  exists  between  two  schools,  and  urges 
that  it  shall  be  formed  and  exerted  on  the  side  of  order, 
diligence,  and  progress.  The  importance  of  securing 
this  public  opinion  has  been  held  by  some  of  the  most 
eminent  educators.  Fellenberg,  describing  his  own 
practice,  says,  "  The  effort  is  constant  to  excite  in  the 
pupils  that  public  spirit  which  seeks  to  exclude  every- 
thing improper  from  its  sphere  of  influence,  in  order  to 
preserve  the  order  and  tranquillity  which  are  necessary 
to  the  improvement  of  all.  .  .  .  An  influence  of 
this  kind  once  established,  with  due  regulation  and 
oversight,  will  often  accomplish  more  than  all  the  re- 
monstrances and  discipline  of  the  teacher.  The  pupil 
can  seldom  resist  the  force  of  truth  when  he  finds  him- 
self condemned  by  the  common  voice  of  his  com- 
panions, and  is  often  more  humbled  by  this  censure 
from  his  equals  than  by  any  of  the  admonitions  of  his 
superiors."  When  public  opinion  has  been  thus  formed 
in  favour  of  whatever  is  lovely  and  of  good  report,  the 
new  scholar  will  find  that  he  cannot  do  as  he  pleases, 
or  as  he  has  been  accustomed  to,  but  he  must  conform 
to  that  which  he  finds  established.  But  this  is  equally 
true  whether  the  teacher  form  the  public  opinion  of  the 
school  or  not.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  teacher  to 
prevent  its  formation.  Met  together  in  numbers,  rules 
are  tacitly  adopted,  and  a  standard  of  conduct  is  fixed 
by  which  evejy  one  is  tried,  and  to  which  every  one 
must  submit.  Every  one  entering  this  society,  in  a  few 


JOSEPH   LANCASTER.  199 

days  partakes  of  the  general  tone,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  imparts  to  it  something  of  his  own.  Few  can  really 
estimate  the  power  which  thus  exists  in  a  school,  and 
few  have  ever  felt  more  strongly  than  Lancaster  the  ne- 
cessity of  securing  it  to  the  side  of  good  government. 

Lancaster  sought  to  form  the  public  opinion  of  the 
school  through  the  means  of  those  children  whose 
lively,  active,  energetic  spirits  gave  them  influence  and 
command  with  their  fellows.  His  first  aim  was  to  at- 
tach these  to  himself,  by  furnishing  them  employment, 
involving  honour,  trust,  and  command.  Having  secured 
them  by  thus  skilfully  availing  himself  of  what  was 
the  prominent  feature  in  their  character,  his  next 
step  was  to  secure  their  co-operation  in  influencing 
others.  For  this  purpose  he  would  often  -meet  them 
apart,  and  placing  before  them  one  of  his  plans,  he 
would  dwell  on  its  importance  to  the  well-being  of 
the  school,  and  would  by  every  means  in  his  power 
endeavour  to  excite  their  interest  in  the  working  of  it 
out.  This  accomplished,  he  knew  they  would  influence 
others,  and  so  the  thing  would  spread  until  the  mass 
was  leavened. 

MEANS  OF  DISCIPLINE. — Two  objects,  according  to 
Lancaster,  are  to  be  kept  in  view  in  school  discipline. 
One  is  to  procure  order,  quietness,  diligence,  and  obedi- 
ence, these  being  necessary  to  the  children's  progress  in 
learning.  The  other  is  the  right  training  of  the  toill. 
The  last  is  the  most  difficult  problem  in  education.  To 
furnish  motives  which  will  not  only  operate  in  the 
master's  presence,  but  which  will  have  a  permanent  in- 
fluence on  conduct  and  character — to  bring  the  will 
under  control,  and  yet  impart  to  it  strength,  determina- 


200  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

tion,  and  power  of  resistance,  is  the  highest  object  of 
discipline,  as  it  is  the  greatest  achievement  of  the  edu- 
cator. Our  judgment,  then,  of  the  means  employed  in 
school  government  must  have  reference  to  their  adapta- 
tion to  secure  the  one  or  other  of  these  ends;  and 
we  must  be  careful  not  to  confound  the  one  with  the 
other, — for  a  set  of  means  that  may  be  well  adapted  to 
secure  the  first,  may  be  equally  so  to  defeat  the  second. 
Order,  quietness,  diligence,  and  obedience  may  be  ob- 
tained at  the  expense  of  everything  that  is  really  valuable 
in  the  character  and  the  will.  No  ;  it  is  not  by  their 
power  as  present  motives  to  secure  order,  that  we  must 
determine  the  value  of  the  means  employed,  but  by 
their  power  to  supply  principles  which  shall  have  an 
abiding  existence  as  motives  of  right  conduct  and 
action  at  all  times.  It  is  highly  important  to  bear 
these  considerations  in  mind  during  our  present  review. 
Lancaster  well  understood  the  necessity  of  supplying 
motives  of  action  which  should  be  permanent  rather 
than  temporary,  and  he  showed  his  knowledge  of  human 
nature  in  their  selection.  Yet  at  almost  every  step  we 
find  something  to  deprecate, — if  not  in  the  motives 
themselves,  yet  in  the  means  to  give  them  birth. 

Among  the  means  employed  to  secure  order  and 
quietness,  besides  endeavouring  constantly  to  form  a 
public  opinion  in  their  favour,  he  attached — and  justly 
— much  value  to  simultaneous  movements  and  action  in 
class  work,  and  in  school  changes ;  to  having  these 
done  as  often  as  possible  by  signals  instead  of  oral  com- 
mands ;  to  having  oral  commands  in  the  fewest  possible 
words,  and  in  such  arrangements  as  would  render  idle- 
ness impossible  without  being  immediately  detected.  In 


JOSEPH  LANCASTER.  201 

these  things  he  laid  hold  of  sympathy,  imitation,  and 
the  love  of  action,  found  in  children,  and  turning  them 
wisely  to  account  in  matters  of  easy  and  pleasant  per- 
formance, he  laid  the  foundation  of  habits  of  obedience 
in  matters  of  graver  moment.  For  he  says  truly 
that  a  child  accustomed  to  obey  in  little  matters  will 
more  readily  do  so  in  the  greater. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  school-keeping 
arises  from  the  number  of  children  who  require  some 
external  stimulus  to  get  them  to  plod  on  with  earnest 
effort  at  their  various  lessons.  Lancaster  successfully 
encountered  the  difficulty,  but  it  was  by  an  almost  ex- 
clusive appeal  to  the  emotions  of  self — the  love  of  dis- 
tinction— the  hope  of  reward — and  emulation.  Every 
boy  in  class  wore  conspicuously  on  his  breast  the  num- 
ber of  his  position.  Every  one  who  gained  the  top  of 
his  class,  wore  as  long  as  he  remained  there  a  badge  of 
merit.  Every  one  who  distinguished  himself  in  read- 
ing, spelling,  writing,  or  arithmetic,  wore  a  badge  setting 
forth  the  fact.  Every  one  who  distinguished  himself  by 
his  excellence  in  all  the  subjects,  or  in  teaching  them 
to  others,  or  in  his  efforts  to  reclaim  bad  boys,  wore  a 
silver  medal  of  the  order  of  merit.  To  boys  who  gained 
the  badges  of  merit  four  times  tickets  with  a  money 
value  were  given,  which  might  be  exchanged  at  any 
time  for  toys,  books,  or  pictures.  To  those  who  obtained 
the  order  of  .merit,  and  who  continued  to  distinguish 
themselves,  prizes  more  costly  were  given — to  some 
silver  watches.  Now  the  great  objection,  as  it  strikes 
one,  to  all  this,  is  not  in  acting  on  such  principles  as 
the  love  of  distinction,  but  in  making  the  gratification 
to  consist,  not  in  the  thing  itself,  but  in  parading  it 


202  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

before  others,  and  in  the  material  gains  which  accrued 
from  it.  Hence  the  thing  to  be  feared  would  be  that 
even  if  the  motive  of  action  did  not  become  permanent, 
that  the  lads  would  slacken  their  efforts  when  removed 
from  the  school.  But  suppose  such  motives  to  become 
the  permanent  principles  of  action,  what  would  be 
the  result  ?  A  character  in  which  there  would  be  no 
high  aspirations,  where  there  would  be  no  regard  to 
what  was  good,  unless  it  brought  with  it  distinction 
applause,  and  material  gain.  But  how  low,  how  mean 
how  debased,  how  utterly  unbefitting  the  high  destiny 
of  man  would  be  such  a  character — a  character  in  which 
the  love  of  display  was  the  chief  feature  ! 

A  mode  of  employing  emulation,  in  use  by  Lancaster, 
is  worthy  of  imitation.  He  set  class  against  class.  To 
two  classes  he  assigned  the  same  work,  and  that  which 
excelled  occupied  the  highest  place  until  the  next  trial 
of  strength.  In  this  contest  the  individual  was  sunk 
in  the  class.  It  was  not  for  personal  distinction,  but 
for  the  distinction  of  his  class  that  he  contended. 
Here  self  gave  way  before  the  desire  that  those  with 
whom  he  associated  should  win.  Each  lad  would  work, 
not  that  he  might  win,  but  that  his  class  might  Lan- 
caster states  that  the  experiment  was  invariably  suc- 
cessful, every  lad  putting  forth  his  utmost  ability  for 
the  success  of  the  class  to  which  he  belonged. 

Section  III. — The  Intellectual  System. 

The  instruction  under  the  Monitorial  system  of  its 
first  promoters  was  the  merest  rote.  It  consisted 
chiefly  in  mechanical  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic. 


THE  INTELLECTUAL  SYSTEM.       203 

It  is  interesting  to  note  this  fact,  now  that  there  is  a 
tendency  under  recent  legislative  actionT^b  restrict  the 
work  of  the  school  within  the  same  meagre  limits. 
What  were  the  results  attained  under  a  system  of 
similar  restriction  1  That  they  were* not  satisfactory 
might  be  surmised  from  the  eiforts  of  such  men  as 
Wood,  Stow,  Grant,  Shuttleworth,  Tate,  and  many 
others,  to  alter  or  add  to  the  existing  system,  or  to 
substitute  something  else  for  it.  But  we  are  not  left 
to  conjecture.  Brougham's  commission  of  1816,  Pillans' 
letters,  and  the  earlier  reports  of  H.M.'s  Inspectors, 
have  placed  the  matter  beyond  dispute.  The  charges 
against  a  system  that  only  drilled  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic,  were,  amongst  others,  that  under  it 
progress  was  not  commensurate  with  the  labour  be- 
stowed ;  that  a  large  majority,  after  years  of  attend- 
ance, left  school  with  such  a  smattering  as  to  be  practi- 
cally of  no  use  to  them  ;  that  the  stupidity  under  ques- 
tioning was  in  a  sense  appalling ;  that  intelligence  not 
being  cultivated,  the  habit  of  reading  was  not  formed  ; 
and  that  in  many  cases  the  power  to  read  and  write 
acquired  at  school  was  subsequently  lost. 

The  first  innovation  on  this  state  of  things  was — 
keeping  a  monitorial  organisation,  by  direct  culture  of 
the  intelligence  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  reading 
lesson.  The  success  attending  it  was  such  that  its 
promoters,  distinguishing  it  from  the  mechanical  re- 
iteration of  the  older  monitorial  schools,  termed  it  the 
Intellectual  system.  Worked  out  by  the  disinterested 
exertions  of  Mr.  Wood,  and  made  known  in  its  chief 
features  by  the  enthusiastic  labours  of  Professor  Pillans, 
•W  well  as  at  a  later  period  in  the  "  Account  of  the 


204  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

Edinburgh  Sessional  School,"  it  rapidly  made  its  way 
both  in  Scotland  and  England,  advanced  here  by 
the  fostering  care  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School 
Society. 

The  intellectual  system  originated  in  a  desire  to  im- 
prove the  matter  and  methods  of  instruction  of  the 
elementary  school,  to  infuse  spirit  into  all  its  exercises, 
and  to  create  activity,  energy,  and  intelligence  through- 
out the  classes.  To  accomplish  these  things,  it  was 
seen  that  a  knowledge  of  child  mind  is  essential ;  that 
the  memory  must  not  be  the  only  object  of  culture, 
but  that  other  powers  must  be  brought  out,  such  as 
perception,  imagination,  and  judgment :  and  that  re- 
gard must  be  had  to  the  fact  that  a  child  has  passions, 
affections,  and  a  conscience,  if  his  co-operation  is  to  be 
secured  in  the  process  of  education.  Also  the  special 
characteristics  of  childhood  must  be  borne  in  mind. 
There  is  an  aversion  to  mental  exertion  when  a  definite 
object  is  not  before  their  mind ;  but  they  possess 
curiosity  in  a  high  degree,  which,  if  properly  stimu- 
lated will  overcome  their  aversion  to  mental  appli- 
cation; they  delight  to  display  their  knowledge,  and 
they  are  ambitious  to  excel  their  fellows. 

Assuming  this  knowledge,  it  was  maintained  further 
that  a  high  state  of  intelligence  and  intellectual  ac 
tivity  required  that  such  facts  and  principles  as  these 
now  to  be  enumerated  should  be  constantly  acted  upon. 
Both  teacher  and  pupil  should  understand  that  there 
is  no  royal  road  to  learning,  that  the  path  is  rugged 
and  the  toil  laborious  ;  the  interest  of  the  pupil  should 
be  excited  in  what  he  is  about,  and  this  cannot  be 
done  if  what  he  is  engaged  on  is  unintelligible  to  him ; 


THE   INTELLECTUAL   SYSTEM.  205 

all  real  efforts  should  be  praised,  and  where  a  dull 
child  finds  it  impossible  to  excel  others  he  should  be 
encouraged  to  excel  his  forifier  self ;  as  far  as  practicable 
the  inclinations  and  capacity  of  every  child  should  be 
studied  in  order  to  his  efficient  instruction ;  in  fixing 
the  branches  to  be  acquired,  and  the  extent  to  which 
pursued,  regard  must  be  had  to  the  probable  length  of 
the  school  life  of  the  scholars  ;  and  all  the  school 
should  be  kept  intelligently,  actively,  and  constantly 
employed. 

Increasing  attention  to  the  nature  of  education,  and 
to  what  is  essential  to  intellectual  and  moral  discipline, 
made  apparent  that  a  great  mistake  had  been  coun- 
tenanced, in  the  opinion  that  any  one  might  be  en- 
trusted with  conducting  a  school,  a  mistake  similar  in 
kind  but  more  deplorable  in  results  to  that  which  gave 
operations  in  surgery  to  the  village  barber,  or  the 
healing  of  disease  to  the  rustic  herb  dealer.  Light 
began  to  dawn  on  those  who  concerned  themselves  with 
the  subject,  that  a  being  of  such  complicated  structure 
as  a  child,  and  such  a  noble  work  as  its  training,  de- 
manded peculiar  qualifications  in  its  instructor.  This 
increasing  appreciation  of  the  dependence  of  educational 
success  on  the  character  of  its  most  active  agent  was 
manifested  by  the  promoters  of  the  intellectual  system. 

Enthusiastic  devotedness  to  education  was  claimed 
as  the  first  requisite  of  a  master  of  a  school.  Success, 
it  was  maintained,  depended  on  the  spirit  of  the 
master.  Of  the  school  he  was  to  be  the  life  and  soul. 
What  he  was  his  school  would  become.  His  enthu- 
siasm or  indifference  would  spread  through  every  class, 
his  subordinates  and  pupils  would  unconsciously  imbibe 


206  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

his  spirit.  And  the  hourly  work  would  be  highly  in- 
vigorating and  compassing  noble  ends ;  or  would  be 
languid  and  evil  in  its  results,  in  proportion  to  the 
conception  the  master  had  of  his  duty,  and  his  devotion 
to  its  accomplishment. 

Another  step  in  the  right  direction  was  the  claim 
that  the  instructor  of  others  should  himself  be  well  in- 
structed. For,  apart  from  such  low  ground  as  that  a 
man  cannot  give  to  others  what  he  himself  possesses 
not,  there  are  so  many  difficulties  met  with  by  the 
young,  and  the  bringing  their  faculties  into  play  re 
quires  so  much  nice  skill,  that  it  is  only  the  man  with 
large  stores  in  hand  that  can  successfully  elucidate  and 
remove  the  former,  or  who  is  himself  a  thorough  student 
and  observer  that  can  acquire  the  latter.  The  dis- 
cipline which  a  liberal  culture  gives  is  necessary  to 
enable  a  man  to  discipline  others.  No  control  can  be 
had  of  child  mind,  no  right  direction  given  to  its 
powers,  there  can  be  no  awakening  of  an  inner  life,  and 
no  high  aspirations  excited,  but  by  one  who  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  similar  culture  in  an  eminently  high 
degree.  Besides,  if  the  schoolmaster  is  not  a  well- 
informed  man  with  a  disciplined  mind,  he  will  be 
excluded  from  educated  society,  and  so  run  the  risk  of 
becoming  a  man  of  narrow  opinions  and  prejudices; 
and  who  would  willingly  commit  a  child  at  its  most 
plastic  period  to  the  culture  of  such  a  one  1 

"Apt  to  teach"  is  an  indispensable  qualification. 
Long  practice  does  not  always  confer  this  talent. 
Many  with  no  "  natural  gift "  certainly  become  by 
study  and  practice  respectable  teachers,  yet  those  of 
the  highest  class  owe  their  position,  perhaps,  to  original 


THE   INTELLECTUAL   SYSTEM.  207 

endowment.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  quality,  whether 
acquired  or  original,  is  essential  to  success.  One  who 
has  this  aptitude  has  the  power  of  winning  the  affec- 
tions even  of  the  dullest,  of  identifying  himself  with 
his  scholars  so  as  to  feel  their  difficulties — without 
which  he  will  scarcely  use  right  methods  of  surmount- 
ing them — and  of  presenting  knowledge  at  the  time 
and  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  most  likely  to  arrest 
attention  and  produce  durable  impressions.  Such  a 
one  has  the  power  to  draw  out  what  the  pupil  knows, 
to  make  him  thus  acquainted  with  his  actual  state,  and 
prepared  to  supply  with  interested  effort  his  deficiencies; 
he  has  also  tact  shown  in  adapting  himself  to  the 
capacity,  inclination,  and  want  of  each  individual 
scholar. 

Two  words  express  the  method  of  this  system — 
interrogation,  explanation.  The  first  elicited  from 
pupils  what  they  knew,  and  so  made  it  the  means  of 
teaching  others  less  informed  ;  the  other  supplied  ma- 
terial for  a  similar  process  in  subsequent  lessons.  Thus 
it  was  sought  that  nothing  should  be  communicated 
until  the  learner  had  made  an  effort  of  his  own ;  the 
principle  of  mutual  instruction  was  employed,  and  the 
process  often  became  one  of  teaching  the  children  to 
work  out  results  for  themselves,  instead  of  taking  in- 
formation simply  at  the  mouth  of  their  teacher. 

The  reading  lesson  was  the  great  instrument  of  cul- 
tivating the  intelligence,  and  may  certainly  be  taken  as 
embodying  all  that  was  characteristic  of  the  system. 
That  a  child,  in  being  taught  to  read,  should  at  the 
the  same  time  be  taught  to  understand  what  it  reads, 
is  so  simple  a  truism,  that  it  excites  surprise  that  its 


208  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

necessity  should  ever  have  had  to  be  insisted  upon. 
Yet  it  was  the  starting  point  of  Wood,  who  early 
realised  that  the  mechanical  part  of  reading  might  be 
so  acquired  as  effectually  to  prevent  the  habit  of  being 
attained  of  reading  with  attention  and  profit.  Without 
such  a  habit  any  other  advantage  can  scarcely  be  deemed 
an  adequate  result  of  the  labour  demanded  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  mere  mechanical  power.  Still  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  defend  the  practice.  This  was 
done  by  urging  that  children  so  dealt  with  no  longer 
found  their  reading  lesson  an  irksome  drudgery,  but  a 
pleasant  employment,  the  result  of  which  was  greater 
animation  and  energy  when  engaged  thereon  ;  that  as 
the  children's  intelligence  was  quickened  by  this  pro- 
cess their  progress  was  more  rapid,  as  they  became 
thereby  quick  to  perceive  and  strong  to  retain  the 
matter  of  their  lessons ;  and  that  even  in  the  mastering 
of  new  words,  the  child,  who  was  taught  to  gather  the 
sense  as  he  read,  was  endowed  with  two  powers,  where 
the  less-favoured  pupil  had  but  one,  and  thus  was 
more  likely  to  make  them  his  own  quickly. 

Exposition  of  reading  lessons  may  aim  to  give  such  a 
general  command  of  the  language,  and  such  a  habit  of 
attention  and  thought,  as  will  enable  the  reader  to 
make  his  own  what  he  reads ;  or  it  may  aim  at  pro- 
ducing good  oral  reading,  or  what  is  properly  the  "  art 
of  reading."  From  the  attention  demanded  for  it,  it 
would  seem  that  the  latter  is  deemed  a  more  desirable 
accomplishment  than  the  former.  Yet  regarded  rightly, 
surely  the  ability  to  make  a  book  one's  own  is  of  much 
more  importance  to  a  man  than  the  power  to  read 
aloud  so  that  others  may  understand.  To  be  able  to 


THE  INTELLECTUAL  SYSTEM.  209 

read  aloud  with  intelligent  emphasis  and  expression  is 
certainly  a  valuable  power,  but  in  school  it  ought  to 
be  secondary,  not  regarded  as  an  end,  but  rather  as  one 
of  the  tests  of  the  power  to  read  with  profit.  "Wood 
seems  to  have  formed  this  opinion,  for  he  claims  that 
the  learner  shall  not  be  taught  simply  to  understand 
the  passage  before  him,  but  shall  get  a  general  know- 
ledge and.  command  over  his  own  language,  and,  not  to 
be  mistaken  as  to  his  meaning,  he  draws  an  illustration 
from  parsing,  which  is  not  taught  that  the  learner  may 
be  acquainted  with  the  sentences  parsed,  but  that  he 
may  have  power  to  deal  with  any  sentences. 

To  that  habit  .of  attention  while  reading,  to  which  is 
due  the  power  of  appropriating  what  is  read,  there 
must  be  added,  if  a  higher  discipline  is  sought,  the 
practice  of  carefully  weighing  what  is  read,  and  of 
bringing  up  former  acquisitions  for  its  elucidation,  con- 
firmation, or  rejection.  That  the  foundation  of  such  a 
habit  might  be  laid  in  school,  it  was  thought  desirable 
to  give  information  on  a  variety  of  topics  such  as  the 
passage  might  suggest,  or  its  full  examination  might 
require.  This  practice  was  occasion  of  abuse.  Much 
irrelevant  matter  was  often  introduced — especially  as  a 
word,  and  not  the  sulject  read,  often  suggested  the 
topic  or  remark. 

The  work  of  the  several  classes  presents  a  few  points 
of  favourable  comparison  with  the  system  which  this 
hoped  to  supersede.  After  the  alphabet  was  acquired, 
words  of  two  letters  took  the  place  of  Bell's  ba,  be,  bi, 
bo,  bu,  and  were  presented  to  the  eye  in  two  characters, 
roman  and  italics,  by  which  it  was  found  the  eye  sooner 
acquired  the  power  of  recognising  words.  Words  of 
P 


210  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

three  letters  followed,  arranged  on  a  principle  which 
it  was  thought  facilitated  their  acquisition.  Words  like 
dry,  cry,  spy,  the,  were  followed  by  such  as  act,  ink, 
orb ;  these  by  such  as  den,  men,  ten  ;  and  these  by 
such  as  die,  due,  dew.  This  course  passed  the  child 
entered  on  books.  Here  an  important  step  was  made 
in  advance.  The  Bible,  hitherto  a  task  book,  was 
removed  from  its  degraded  position,  and  other  books, 
interesting  in  matter  and  suitable  to  the  intelligence, 
put  in  its  place. 

In  the  method  of  working  a  reading  class,  apart  from 
what  was  really  the  life  of  the  system,  the  practice  of 
spending  some  time  daily  in  explanation,  the  most  re- 
markable thing  was  the  immense  activity  engendered 
by  the  practice  of  place-taking,  It  is  interesting  also 
to  note — probably  a  consequence  of  this  practice — that 
on  no  account  was  spelling  allowed  during  reading.  It 
had  a  distinct  time  assigned  to  it. 


Section  IV. — The  Training  System. 

Few  men  have  done  more  for  the  cause  of  Education 
than  David  Stow.  Few  have  exerted  in  their  own 
lifetime  so  wide-spread  an  influence  on  education.  In 
the  schools  that  exist — on  his  system — he  has  revolu- 
tionized the  ordinary  system  of  teaching  and  school- 
keeping,  and  has  affected,  for  good  or  evil,  more  or 
less,  every  other  system,  though  founded  on  principles 
the  opposite  of  his  own.  For  along  time  past  his  prin- 
ciples and  methods  haye  engaged  the  attention  of  many 
in  Europe  and  America  interested  in  education,  and 


THK  TRAINING  SYSTEM.  211 

they  have  been  more  or  less  adopted,  wherever  they 
have  been  thoroughly  examined  and  understood. 

Like  many  others,  whose  labours  have  been  of  the 
greatest  benetit  to  human  happiness  and  progress,  Mr. 
Stow  had  no  purpose — in  the  commencement  of  his 
great  work, — but  to  arrest,  in  his  own  sphere,  a  little  of 
the  tide  of  evil  that  was  bearing  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  community  to  irretrievable  ruin.  In  1816,  he — 
then  a  young  merchant — gathered  on  a  Sabbath  even- 
ing, into  a  dingy  apartment,  in  a  back  lane,  about  thirty 
young  Arabs  of  the  Salt-market,  Glasgow.  His  aim 
was  to  instil  religious  principles ;  to  engage  their  affec- 
tions in  behalf  of  what  was  right  and  good,  and  to 
lead  them  to  the  knowledge  of  Him,  whose  mission 
was  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  laid  down  for 
himself  two  rules,  to  the  observance  of  which  he  traces 
much  of  his  success  in  education  ; — never  to  strike ; 
never  expel.  Amid  all  their  circumstances  of  rags  and 
filth,  he  viewed  them  as  on  an  equality  with  himself,  ra- 
tional, responsible,  and  immortal ;  having  minds  as  de- 
licate, as  curious,  and  as  complicated  in  structure  as  his 
own  ;  with  emotions  that  it  would  be  well  to  cherish, 
and  intellectual  faculties  and  moral  powers  that  it  would 
be  possible  to  train. 

During  ten  years  he  laboured,  making  valuable  dis- 
coveries, and  meeting  with  unexpected  results.  At 
length,  awaking  to  the  fact  that  the  training  of  the 
street  was  more  powerful  than  that  of  the  school,  and 
that  what  was  done  on  the  Sabbath  was  but  too  effect- 
ually neutralized  during  the  week,  and  anxious  to  have 
a  wider  sphere  for  observation,  and  for  testing  the  dis- 
coveries he  had  made,  he  established  an  infants'  day- 


212  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

school,  and  placed  it  under  the  care  of  that  prince  of 
infant  teachers, — the  late  David  Caughie.  Calling  to 
his  aid  Mr.  Wilderspin,  who  was  then  engaged  in 
establishing  infants'  schools,  he  introduced  the  system 
of  that  gentleman,  supplementing  it  with  those  other 
principles  and  methods  of  religious  and  moral  training 
which  had  borne,  and  were  still  producing  such  good 
fruit  in  the  smaller  sphere  of  a  Sabbath-evening  class. 
For  seven  years  this  work  went  on.  During  them,  by 
labouring  in  his  Sabbath- class,  by  daily  visits  to  his 
school,  and  working  therein,  by  earnest  inquiries  in  all 
directions,  he  increased  his  experience,  added  to  his 
principles,  improved  his  methods,  and  enlarged  his 
views.  Convinced  of  their  soundness,  and  anxious  to 
give  wider  scope  to  the  application  of  his  principles  and 
plans,  he  now  added  to  his  establishment  a  juvenile 
school.  He  also  made  it,  as  he  had  done  the  other, 
the  means  of  confirming  or  correcting  his  views,  and  of 
diffusing  a  knowledge  of  his  aims,  principles,  methods, 
and  results,  by  opening  them  as  model  schools,  where 
teachers  could  be  trained. 

Already  his  work,  had  drawn  to  it  a  large  share  of 
public  attention,  and  many,  besides  those  going  forth  as 
teachers — ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  missionaries 
about  to  depart  for  their  fields  of  labour, — visited  the 
schools,  and  attended  courses  of  lessons  therein,  that 
they  might  acquaint  themselves  with  methods  and 
principles  at  once  so  simple  and  effective  as  these 
seemed,  for  the  communication  of  religious  and  moral 
truth.  At  length  so  much  had  his  earnest  advocacy, 
his  untiring  zeal,  his  enthusiastic  labours,  and  his  re- 
markable success  won  upon  his  townsmen,  that  the 


THK   TRAINING   SYSTEM.  213 

Glasgow  Educational  Society  erected  a  Normal  Semi- 
nary, established  his  system  therein,  and  gave  him  its 
oversight  as  honorary  secretary. 

The  establishment  of  the  Training  System  in  a  Nor- 
mal Seminary,  forms  an  era  in  the  educational  progress 
of  this  country.  Before  this,  others  had,  like  Mr. 
Stow,  opened  their  schools  for  persons  to  "  learn  the 
system  "  pqjor  to  taking  charge  of  schools.  But  this 
was  an  attempt  to  give  students,  intending  teaching  as 
a  profession,  a  knowledge  of  educational  principles,  to 
furnish  them  with  the  knowledge  they  had  to  impart, 
to  set  before  them  the  best  examples  of  teaching  ad- 
dressed to  children  in  well  graduated  divisions,  and  to 
give  them  opportunities  of  teaching  under  criticism  in 
the  presence  of  skilled  masters,  after  the  models  and  to 
the  same  groups,  as  the  lessons  in  their  own  presence. 
The  system  itself,  as  now  established,  was  the  first  for- 
mal attempt  in  these  islands  to  combine  and  exhibit  in 
practice  some  original  principles  and  methods  with 
whatever  had  been  found  valuable  in  other  systems, 
with  the  object  of  training  the  child  in  its  whole  nature, 
physical  and  mental,  religiously,  morally,  and  intellect- 
ually. "  The  Training  System,"  says  its  founder,  with 
a  rare  modesty,  "  is  not  so  much  any  one  system,  as  a 
combination  of  what  is  valuable  in  other  systems,  with 
additions,  not,  so  lar  as  we  know,  hitherto  engrafted  on 
juvenile  schools,  and  the  sole  aim  is  to  arrive  at  the 
best  mode  of  cultivating  the  whole  man." 

The  designation  "  Training  "  was  adopted  partly  as 
the  best  one  for  embodying  the  fact  that  no  child  can 
be  educated  unless  its  whole  nature  is  harmoniously 
cultivated ;  and  partly  as  setting  forth  what  was 


214  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

thought  to  be  the  peculiar  distinction  between  teaching 
and  the  process  now  contemplated.  The  former  con- 
sists, it  was  maintained,  in  simply  setting  forth  before 
the  child's  intelligence  what  it  should  know  or  do ;  the 
latter  in  taking  means  to  have  carried  into  practice  and 
habit,  what  should  be.  But  it  admits  of  question  if 
any  such  distinction  can  be  maintained.  "  Teach  me 
to  live,"  in  Ken's  well-known  hymn,  certaiftly  includes 
all  that  Stow  intended  by  the  term  train,  and  the  same 
is  true  of  other  uses  of  the  term.  Hence  the  designa- 
tion was  unfortunate,  because  seemingly  pretentious, 
and  produced  opposition  from  many  who  were  consci- 
ous that  their  term  teaching  included  all  his  term 
training. 

The  proper  function  of  the  school  in  the  education 
of  a  child  must  be  understood  by  all  who  would  rightly 
appreciate  Mr.  Stow's  great  work.  With  many  the 
school  is  simply  a  place  of  instruction  and  of  learning 
— a  place  where  certain  arts  are  first  to  be  acquired,  and 
then  applied  to  the  acquisition  of  other  things.  This 
is  their  sole  end  and  aim ;  and  if  these  are  secured, 
then  the  school  answers  its  purpose,  and  all  further  re- 
sponsibility is  escaped  from.  To  such  it  matters  noth- 
ing what  are  the  habits  or  character  of  the  children,  or 
the  influences  at  work  upon  them,  except  so  far  as  they 
affect  their  progress  or  the  convenience  of  their  instruc- 
tors. There  are  others  who — especially  when  regarding 
the  school  for  the  poor — would  make  its  aim  to  be,  in 
some  cases  the  formation,  in  all  the  growth  of  those 
habits  that  are  necessary  to  the  proper  discharge  of  the 
duties  and  relations  of  life.  With  these,  school  learn- 
ing is  simply  an  instrument  for  the  acquisition  of  such 


THE   TRAINING   SYSTEM.  215 

a  fitness  ;  its  value  being  not  in  itself,  but  in  the  self- 
restraint,  steady  application,  and  habit  of  obedience  re- 
quired from  the  learner.  Stow  claimed  for  the  school 
a  higher  function,  and  pointed  out  a  nobler  aim.  The 
idea  of  the  family  must  be  added  to  that  of  the  school, 
and  the  duty  of  the  parent  to  the  responsibili- 
ties of  the  teacher.  The  school  ought  to  be  a  place 
of  education — of  education,  not  in  its  popular  sense  of 
instruction,  but  in  its  real  import  as  implying  the  for- 
mation of  character.  Looking  upon  the  child  as  in 
preparation  for  immortality,  Stow  considered  that  both 
Scripture  and  reason  point  out  that  the  formation  of  its 
character  should  be  the  great  purpose  of  the  school,  as 
it  is  of  the  family,  and  as  it  is  of  life. 

That  the  school  has  a  special  function,  none  will 
deny  ;  that  it  is  a  necessity  of  our  social  condition,  for 
the  discipline  of  the  intellect  and  the  acquisition  of  the 
means  of  continuing  it,  is  readily  granted  ;  that  the 
family  does  not  and  cannot  supply  that  which  the 
school  undertakes,  is  true.  All  that  is  clear.  The 
error  to  be  avoided  is  making  this  its  sole  office.  For 
no  one,  really  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  can  doubt  whether  religious  and  moral  training, 
the  culture  of  the  affections,  and  the  discipline  of  the 
will,  which  belong  especially  to  the  sphere  of  the 
family,  should  also  be  continued  in  school.  Whatever 
in  these  things  is  the  duty  of  the  parent  is  also  the 
duty  of  the  schoolmaster.  For  children  cannot  lose 
their  right  of  having  their  highest  interests  cared  for 
during  so  large  a  portion  of  their  waking  life  as  that 
spent  in  school,  because  sent  there  for  another  purpose. 
Certainly  there  is  the  highest  obligation  on  all  en- 


216  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

trusted  with  young  immortals  in  their  most  plnstic 
period,  when  surrounded  by  so  many  claimants  to  their 
affections,  and  acted  on  from  without  by  so  many  evil 
influences,  to  do  for  them  all  that  the  most  tender,  most 
conscientious,  and  most  Christian  parent  would  do  to 
save  them  from  evil  and  train  them  to  good. 

The  function  of  the  school  is  to  assist  and  supple- 
ment, not  to  supersede  the  work  of  the  family.  It  has 
to  continue  and  strengthen  that  which  has  been  begun 
and  is  being  carried  on  there.  But,  alas!  there  are 
thousands  of  homes  where  these  obligations  are  not  felt, 
where  these  duties  are  not  practised.  A  child  from 
such  a  home  has,  if  possible,  a  stronger  claim  to  reli- 
gious and  moral  culture  than  others.  Here  evil,  already 
in  possession,  has  to  be  neutralized,  vicious  habits  and 
practices  have  to  be  uprooted,  right  principles  have  to 
be  implanted,  and  virtuous  habits  formed.  Religious 
truth  and  duty,  and  the  moral  obligation  of  right 
conduct  to  others,  and  of  right  regard  for  itself, 
have  to  be  brought  home  to  its  conscience,  and  it  i-, 
to  be  trained  to  feel  their  force  and  to  yield  itself  to 
their  sway. 

In  claiming  these  things  as  belonging  to  the  sphere 
of  the  school,  Stow  cannot  justly  be  charged  with  rais- 
ing too  high  a  standard,  nor  to  have  sought  what  is  im- 
practicable. To  have  done  so  would  have  defeated  his 
purpose,  for  those  practically  engaged  in  school  work, 
not  realizing  their  aims,  would  become  discouraged  on 
comparing  the  results  attained  with  the  expectations 
formed.  Interpreted  by  what  was  actually  done  in 
the  schools  under  his  supervision,  he  aimed  at  no 
higher  results  than  every  Christian  teacher  is  taught  to 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  217 

expect,  and  at  nothing  more  than  was  accomplished  in 
numerous  instances  under  his  eyes. 

Entertaining  such  views,  it  was  a  natural  sequence 
that  school  education  should  be  conducted  on  a  distinc- 
tive religious  basis,  and  that  he  should  place  moral 
training  before  the  special  work  of  the  school.  So 
strong  indeed  was  his  conviction  that  moral  training 
should  have  precedence  of  everything  else,  and  so  ur- 
gently did  he  enforce  it,  that  a  distinguished  writer  on 
education  has  declared  that  the  prominence  given  to  it 
by  him,  and  to  the  means  of  obtaining  it,  was  the  chief 
benefit  his  system  had  conferred  on  the  cause  of  na- 
tional education.  Nor  was  this  conviction  weakened 
by  advancing  age  and  experience  ;  rather  was  its  hold 
of  his  mind  the  stronger,  and  his  advocacy  of  it  the 
more  earnest.  In  fact,  that  those  adopting  his  system 
should  ever  keep  the  importance  of  moral  training  in 
view,  he  urged  in  his  later  years  that  such  schools 
should  be  designated  Moral  Training  Schools. 

Moral  training  he  places  in  leading  the  child  to  feel 
right,  and  thence  to  act  right — that  is,  to  act  rightly 
from  right  motives ;  and  this  is  to  be  sought  until  the 
habit  of  doing  so  is  formed,  as  no  moral  result  can  be 
permanent  unless  it  exists  as  a  habit  of  the  mind.  Such, 
training  implies  in  its  course  the  cultivation  of  moral 
intelligence,  the  right  culture  of  the  feelings,  and  the 
proper  discipline  of  the  will.  The  developments  of 
character,  and  the  habits  sought  in  such  training, 
should  include  amongst  other  things  "  truthfulness, 
justice,  punctuality,  kindness,  courtesy,  forgiveness  of 
injuries,  fidelity  to  promises,  and  habits  of  obedience, 
docility,  attention,  perseverance,  and  self-control."  That 


218  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

these  results  may  be  obtained  there  must  be  such  a 
cultivation  of  conscience  that  it  will  act  rightly  within 
its  proper  sphere  ;  and  that  it  may  do  so,  the  ground  of 
his  duties  to  God,  to  man,  and  to  himself,  must  be 
clearly  shown  to  the  child  to  be  in  the  relations  he 
sustains  to  God  and  man — relations  involving  the 
obligation  of  love,  reverence,  and  obedience  to  God,  of 
benevolence  and  justice  to  man,  and  of  purity,  patience 
and  humility  in  himself. 

First  among  the  means  for  this  training  is  religious 
truth  -religious  truth  in  its  precepts,  these  alone  sup- 
plying the  purest  morality ;  religious  truth  in  its  doc- 
trines, these  only  furnishing  effectual  motives  to  its 
observance.  Instruction  in  this  truth  should  teach  the 
child  the.  nature  of  duty,  should  furnish  reasons  for  its 
performance,  and  should  supply  powerful  motives  to 
obedience.  But  there  is  a  kind  of  teaching  which  fails 
of  these  results.  Not  that  teaching — not  worthy  of 
the  name — that  is  merely  verbal  and  textual,  but  a 
teaching  that  really  aims  to  make  the  truth  clear  to  the 
intelligence,  though  it  goes  no  further  than  building  it 
up  in  the  mind.  Such  instruction,  often  found  fruit- 
ful in  later  life,  and  therefore  not  to  be  despised  in  the 
absence  of  something  better,  often  fails  altogether  to 
influence  the  conduct  of  the  child.  This  may  arise  in 
some  cases  from  the  fact  that  verbal  instruction,  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  fails  to  convey  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  truth  to  the  mind.  In  others,  because 
it  does  not  come  with  an  authority  that  the  child  has 
learned  to  yield  to,  the  great  Master's  will  not  being  as 
yet  felt  as  obligatory  upon  its  conduct.  But  Stow 
thinks  that  it  is  due  often  to  the  form  in  which  the 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  219 

truth  is  presented.  It  has  not  approached  the  child's 
mind  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  its  nature,  and 
therefore  fails  to  awaken  its  attention.  It  should  so 
come  to  the  child  as  to  enlist  its  feelings,  awaken  its 
sympathy,  excite  its  conscience,  and  stimulate  its  will. 
And  this  it  cannot  do  unless  it  is  presented  in  such  a 
form  as  the  child  can  vividly  realize  in  its  imagination. 
Now  it  requires  little  knowledge  of  human  nature  to 
see  that  there  is  really  nothing  of  a  moral  character 
where  feeling  is  not  an  essential  element.  It  must 
therefore  be  conceded  to  Stow  that  what  he  demands 
in  religious  instruction  is  absolutely  essential  to  its 
having  a  moral  power.  It  must  awaken  feeling,  or  the 
moral  result  cannot  be  produced.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  command  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God." 
This  may  be  understood,  assented  to  as  reasonable, 
kept  in  memory,  and  yet  be  a  dead  letter.  Why  ?  Be- 
cause, though  it  has  penetrated  the  intellect,  it  has  not 
reached  the  heart.  Now  before  it  can  do  this,  that 
which  is  lovable  in  God  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  feelings.  Agaiu,  how  shall  we  get  the  observance 
of  the  golden  rule?  Not  by  simply  making  it  clear  to  the 
intelligence,  but  i.y  presenting  it  in  instances  in  which 
it  is  applicable,  and  bringing  these  out  in  such  a  way  that 
the  children  shall  transfer  themselves  into  the  circum- 
stances of  others,  and  thus  have  brought  home  to  them 
their  present  duty  from  what  they  would  expect  in  such 
a  case  to  receive.  In  this,  then,  we  have  one  great 
service  rendered  by  Stow  to  the  cause  of  moral  educa- 
tion. The  matter  must  be  brought  out  before  the  ima- 
gination, that  the  children  may  place  themselves  in  th« 
circumstances  of  others  and  su  enter  into  their  feelings, 


220  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

or  shall  have  in  vividly  described  cases  of  conduct,  the 
means  by  which  they  may  compare  themselves  with  a 
right  standard,  and  so  obtain  those  conceptions  of  duty, 
and  those  motives  to  do  it,  which  are  the  objects  of  re- 
ligious and  moral  instruction. 

Next  to  religious  truth  among  the  means  of  moral 
training,  and  in  fact  its  essential  counterpart,  is  to  as- 
sociate doing  or  action  with  knowledge  or  feeling.  The 
child  must  know,  feel,  and  act.  Knowledge  without 
feeling  is  moonshine,  clear  but  cold  ;  feeling  without 
action  is  mere  sentiment.  In  all  possible  circumstances, 
therefore,  doing  must  be  enforced,  and  in  such  things 
as  the  teacher  cannot  enforce,  pains  must  be  taken  to 
compare  the  feelings  produced  under  a  lesson,  with  the 
feelings  and  actions  which  come  under  the  teacher's 
notice  in  their  every-day  life.  "  Training  can  only  be 
termed  moral  training  when  precept  is  turned  to  prac- 
tice. For  example,  a  child  may  know  that  it  is  right 
to  give  what  he  possesses  to  a  poor  man,  but  it  is  not 
a  moral  act  until  the  corresponding  feeling  and  exter- 
nal act  follow.  Neither  is  the  action  itself  moral  with- 
out the  understanding  and  feeling  of  duty.  Know- 
ledge, feeling,  and  practice  thus  combined  form  complete 
moral  training."  "  I  am  no  more  under  training  by 
being  told  and  shown  how  to  make  a  watch,  or  hem  a 
frill,  or  paint  a  landscape,  than  I  am  under  moral  train- 
ing by  the  truths  of  Scripture  being  presented  to  my 
mind,  provided  I  am  not  placed  in  circumstances  to 
practise  them :  I  am  only  under  training  when  I  am 
caused  to  do  the  thing  specified."  "  Train  to  genero- 
sity, or  obedience,  or  cleanliness,  or  any  other  thing,  by 
making  the  child  practically  so,  no  matter  how  trivial 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  221 

the  action  it  has  been  told  to  do.  If  a  child  does  a 
thing  improperly,  or  neglects  to  do  a  thing  it  has  been 
told  to  do,  the  simplest  way  to  check  such  impropriety 
is  to  cause  the  child  to  do  the  thing.  This  method 
will  produce  the  habit  when  a  threat  or  a  scold  may  be 
instantly  forgotten.  The  certainty  of  being  obliged  to 
do  is  better  for  the  memory  than  the  longest  speech  or 
the  severest  threatening.''  "  The  point  here  insisted 
on,"  says  Mr.  Currie,  "  is  one  of  vital  importance  ;  it 
constitutes  the  difference,  indeed,  between  education  or 
training  and  instruction.  The  greatest  merit,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  of  Mr.  Stow's  excellent  volume  on  the 
training  system,  is  the  prominence  it  gives  to  action  in 
moral  training  as  distinct  from  rule  : — '  The  only  way 
to  do  a  thing  is  just  to  do  it.'  Locke  long  ago  enforced 
the  same  truth  on  an  age  not  prepared  to  understand 
him.  '  And  here  give  me  leave  to  take  notice  of  one 
thing  I  think  a  fault  in  the  ordinary  method  of  educa- 
tion ;  and  that  is,  the  charging  the  children's  memories 
upon  all  occasions,  with  rules  and  precepts  which  they 
often  do  not  understand,  and  which  are  constantly  as 
soon  forgot  as  given.  If  it  be  some  action  you  would 
have  done,  or  done  otherwise,  whenever  they  forget  or 
do  it  awkwardly,  make  them  do  it  over  and  over  again 
till  they  are  perfect,  whereby  you  will  get  these  two 
advantages : — First,  to  see  whether  it  be  an  action  they 
can  do,  or  is  fit  to  be  expected  of  them ;  secondly,  that 
by  repeating  the  same  action  till  it  be  grown  habitual  in 
them,  the  performance  will  not  depend  on  memory  or 
reflection,  the  concomitant  of  prudence  and  age,  and 
not  of  childhood,  but  will  be  natural  in  them.  Pray 
remember  that  children  are  not  to  be  taught  by  rules 


222  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

which  will  be  always  slipping  out  of  their  memories. 
What  you  think  necessary  for  them  to  do,  settle  on 
them  by  an  indispensable  practice,  as  often  as  the  occa- 
sion returns,  and,  if  it  be  possible,  make  occasions. 
This  method  has  so  many  advantages,  which  way 
soever  we  consider  it,  that  I  cannot  but  wonder  (if 
ill  customs  could  be  wondered  at  in  anything)  how  it 
could  possibly  be  so  much  neglected.'  This  is  the  germ 
of  the  training  system." 

Other  reasons  present  themselves  for  thus  insisting 
on  the  necessity  of  action  to  moral  training.  There  is 
an  intimate  connection  between  action  and  knowledge. 
On  the  one  hand,  many  moral  truths  are  simply  ab- 
sti'actions,  and  the  language  in  which  they  are  expressed 
bare  terms,  until  they  are  seen  in  action.  What  con- 
ception can  a  child  form  of  justice,  honesty,  or  kind- 
ness, unless  it  has  been  exhibited  before  it  1  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  some  truths  which  cannot  be 
learnt,  some  states  of  feeling  and  of  intelligence  which 
cannot  be  reached,  until  there  has  been  doing.  This 
is  true  not  only  of  divine  truth,  but  of  much  that  is 
good  and  evil  in  every-day  life.  Another  reason  for 
insisting  on  action  is  found  in  the  fact  that  where 
feeling  and  action  are  not  associated,  the  mind  becomes 
callous  and  utterly  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  duty. 
This  is  experienced — alas  !  how  widely! — in  connection 
with  the  great  concerns  of  religion.  Its  truths,  from 
not  being  obeyed,  come  gradually  to  lose  their  power  of 
stirring  up  the  sensibilities,  until  at  length  the  most 
appalling  descriptions  can  be  listened  to,  not  only  as  if 
we  had  no  personal  concern  in  them,  but  as  if  they 
were  mere  fables.  The  heart  is  hardened  and  the  eyea 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  223 

are  blinded,  so  that  hearing  we  hear  not,  and  seeing 
we  see  not.  The  truth,  falling  on  the  outward  ear, 
never  penetrates  to  the  mind,  never  touches  the  heart. 
Another  reason  for  insisting  on  action  is  that  no  other 
method  can  be  adopted  for  undoing  the  bad  habits 
with  which  many  come  to  school.  The  only  possible 
way  of  removing  the  evil  habit  is  by  practice  in  its 
opposite. 

The  great  means  of  moral  training  being  thus  estab- 
lished, the  next  step  was  to  find  the  conditions  which 
these  means  require  for  their  effectual  application. 

First,  he  claims  that  there  must  be  a  development 
of  the  natural  aptitudes,  tastes,  and  tendencies  of  the 
child,  and  of  its  acquired  dispositions  and  habits, 
before  there  can  be  any  training  at  all.  Until  these 
are  known,  the  clue  is  wanting  to  the  procedure  in  any 
given  case.  "  There  must  be  a  development  of  character 
and  disposition  ere  the  process  of  training  can  be  com- 
menced. We  must  actually  see  the  habits  and  actions, 
hear  the  words,  and  observe  the  bent  of  the  affections  of 
the  child."  One  of  the  things  that  he  contends  for  in 
this  is,  that  the  child  shall  not  be  lost  in  the  mass, 
shall  not  be  treated  by  a  method  which,  seeing  no 
difference  in  children,  puts  them  all  into  one  crucible, 
passes  them  through  the  same  mould,  and  subjects 
them  to  the  same  routine  ;  but  rather  that  each  child's 
nature  should  be  studied,  and  means  employed  adapted 
to  its  case  as  circumstances  arise  or  opportunities  are 
found.  Doubtless,  in  view  of  the  endless  varieties  of 
child-nature,  if  we  accept  practice  as  the  means  of 
moral  training,  it  is  a  fair  deduction  that  there  shall  be 
this  study  of  the  individual,  and  this  provision  for  its 


224  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

wants  and  aptitudes.  But  how  fai  is  this  possible  in 
school,  or  how  far  within  its  sphere1?  Where,  of 
necessity,  there  is  much  that  is  common  in  pursuit  and 
purpose,  the  means  must  be  wisely  adapted  to  the 
many  rather  than  to  the  individual,  and  the  one  must 
be  reached  through  what  is  designed  for  all,  rather  than 
by  special  provision  ;  and  even  when,  as  cases  arise, 
the  individual  is  cared  for,  he  alone  must  not  be 
thought  of  in  the  measures  employed,  but  through  him 
all.  Still,  the  necessity  of  practice  to  moral  training 
being  allowed,  and  that  such  practice  must  be  what 
each  child  needs,  it  is  evident  that  the  study  of 
character,  wants,  and  aptitudes  is  a  responsibility  of 
the  teacher,  as  is  also  an  adaptation  of  his  measures  to 
the  individual,  so  far  as  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
admit. 

•  But  it  is  chiefly  as  giving  the  knowledge  of  the 
child's  character  as  necessary  to  the  use  of  means  for 
its  benefit,  that  Stow  requires  a  previous  development 
of  its  habits  and  tendencies.  Without  such  knowledge 
the  work  of  the  teacher  must  be  haphazard.  Whether 
he  attempt  the  individual,  or  adapt  his  measures  to 
the  many,  he  cannot  be  certain  that  they  are  the  best 
he  might  employ.  Means  that  in  some  cases  might 
secure  a  coveted  result  are  found  ineffective,  because  at 
random.  Features  of  character,  bias,  or  habit  exist, 
which,  being  unknown,  have  not  been  provided  for. 
Xay,  often  the  purpose  is  defeated  because  the  teacher, 
wanting  the  knowledge  required,  works  in  the  opposite 
direction  and  for  a  different  result  than  he  intends. 
On  the  other  hand,  acquainted  with  the  minds  on 
which  he  has  to  work,  he  can  economize  his  forces, 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  225 

and  wisely  order  all  his  means  to  his  end.  Nothing 
then  is  at  random.  If  he  fails — as  he  often  must, — 
it  is  with  the  consciousness  that  it  is  due  to  no 
omission  on  his  part,  nor  to  the  inaptitude  of  his 
means,  but  to  the  presence  of  influences — not  unknown 
— beyond  his  ability  to  reach. 

It  seems  to  have  been  Stow's  opinion,  that  to  allow 
of  the  development  he  sought  there  must  be  great 
freedom  from  restraint,  and  circumstances  provided  in 
which  the  children  would  have  not  only  opportunity 
but  temptation  to  do  wrong.  He  seems  to  have 
thought  the  former  necessary  to  that  perfect  confidence 
of  the  children  in  their  teacher  which  would  allow 
them  "  to  make  him  their  confidant,"  with  all  openness 
and  freedom,  of  everything  that  related  to  them.  And 
he  required  the  latter  as  giving  the  means  of  pointing 
out  what  duty  is,  and  as  necessary  to  the  growth  of 
virtuous  principle.  Practically,  in  the  schools  estab- 
lished by  him,  under  the  excellent  masters  placed  at 
their  head,  these  opinions  were  much  modified  in  their 
operation.  But  standing  apart  they  are  open  to  the 
gravest  doubts,  if  taken  without  very  great  limitation 
as  to  their  educational  soundness. 

Perfect  confidence  was  thought  to  be  impossible 
where  fear  existed.  Hence  his  objection  to  corporal 
punishment  and  to  every  other  practice  that  would  be 
likely,  as  he  thought,  to  induce  fear.  But  fear  is  a 
legitimate  state  of  mind,  and  one  that  it  is  desirable  to 
produce  ;  not  abject  fear,  not  the  emotion  which  makes 
its  subject  its  slave,  but  that  state  of  mind  which 
avoids  the  wrong  action  because  afraid  of  wrong  itself. 
Nor  is  such  fear  incompatible  with  love ;  nor  is  pun- 

Q 


226  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

ishment,  administered  with  this  view  and  in  the  right 
spirit,  inimical  to  that  feeling  of  regard  which  would 
make  the  teacher  a  confidant  of  all  that  concerns  the 
child.  But  seeking  to  establish  that  state  of  feeling 
betwixt  the  teacher  and  the  child,  in  which  it  would 
freely  act  out  itself  in  his  presence,  is  not  sufficient  to 
warrant  freedom  from  restraint  or  fear.  It  is  very 
probable  that  the  evil  of  such  freedom  would  exceed  the 
good.  Restraint  may  often  preserve  the  child  from 
that  "  first  act "  which  is  the  beginning  of  its  ruin. 
Who  can  estimate  the  influence  on  the  child's  future 
of  a  first  act  in  what  is  a  wrong  course  ?  Before  that 
how  many  struggles  it  has  had,  how  many  victories  it 
has  won  i  A  few  more  struggles  and  a  few  more  vic- 
tories, and  its  safety  is  secured.  But  that  first  act 
breaks  down  the  bulwark  that  was  its  protection.  In 
that  first  act  the  citadel  is  taken,  .and  the  child  lies 
prostrate  at  the  foot  of  its  foe.  Freedom  from  restraint 
is  freedom  to  the  aggressions  of  evil,  not  freedom  to 
the  child.  A  recent  popular  book  on  life  at  a  public 
school,  where  Stow's  principle  was  the  leading  feature 
in  its  management  during  the  head  mastership  of  a 
man  of  world-wide  fame,  has  shown  the  peril  incurred 
by  the  removal  of  restraint,  by  the  absence  of  fear. 
Where  a  few  were  benefited  under  that  regime,  hun- 
dreds, it  is  feared,  were  irretrievably  ruined. 

Whether  a  child  should  be  removed  from  temptation, 
or  should  have  temptations  put  in  its  way,  are  ques- 
tions of  vital  moment  in  moral  training.  Stow  advo- 
cated the  establishment  of  schools  to  remove  children 
from  the  temptations  of  the  street ;  but  at  school  he 
would  not  remove  temptations,  he  would  rather  place 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  227 

them  in  their  way.  Now  it  must  be  granted  that  it  is 
impossible  altogether  to  remove  a  child  from  what  may 
be  temptations  to  it.  And  as  the  attempt  would  be 
vain  it  would  be  foolish.  It  would  also  be  unwise 
because  it  would  be  attempting  to  get  free  from  what 
is  necessary  to  its  training.  Much  knowledge  has  to 
come  by  experience,  especially  that  which  fits  for  the 
material  and  social  life.  It  is  better  to  let  a  child 
touch  a  hot  teapot — it  would  not  do  it  a  second  time — 
than  to  excite  a  vain  feeling  of  dread  by  a  hasty 
"  don't  touch,"  but  it  would  be  criminal  to  allow  the 
child  to  bring  the  scalding  contents  of  the  pot  on  itself. 
It  would  be  folly  to  try  to  keep  a  child  from  those 
temptations  which  come  necessarily  with  its  daily  life, 
but  it  would  be  criminal  not  to  screen  it  from  those 
iemptations  by  which  it  would  be  certainly  overcome, 
T.nd  which  would  be  its  ruin,  until  the  power  acquired 
in  unalterable  circumstances  fits  it  to  meet  them.  Then 
the  best  interests  of  the  child  require  that  it  shall  not 
be  prevented  from  the  encounter.  So  far  we  are  guided 
by  the  analogy  of  experience  in  a  lower  sphere.  But 
to  place  temptations  in  the  way  of  a  child — different 
from  those  met  by  it  in  its  ordinary  life— cannot  be 
good  for  it,  nor  yet  necessary  to  its  moral  discipline. 
For  a  temptation  is  something  that  we  know  will 
excite  a  strong  desire  to  do  or  get,  and  until  there  is 
an  acquired  power  of  resistance,  the  result  would  be, 
not  to  prepare  the  child  to  conquer,  but  to  make  it  the 
slave  of  every  fleeting  desire. 

Claiming  this  development  of  character  under  cir- 
cumstances comparatively  free  from  restraint,  and  with 
temptations  not  put  out  of  the  children's  way,  Stow 


228  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

adopted  from  "Wilderspin  the  playground  as  a  neces- 
sary part  of  every  moral  training  school.  To  his  earnest 
advocacy  of  this — the  "  uncovered  schoolroom"  is  due 
the  fact  that  few  schools  are  now  erected,  and  none  are 
thought  complete  without  a  playground.  Without  a 
playground  the  means  of  moral  training  are  very  imper- 
fect, and  where  it  is  wanting,  Stow  would  not  recognise 
the  school  as  on  his  system  at  all.  Apart  from  its 
physical  advantages,  yielding  the  means  of  drill,  games, 
and  fresh  air;  apart  from  its  advantages  to  school  work 
in  letting  off  "  steam,"  and  invigorating  for  fresh  intel- 
lectual effort;  it  is,  in  his  opinion,  the  only  place  where 
the  master  can  get  that  knowledge  of  character,  habits, 
and  actions,  which  he  has  to  turn  to  account  for  the 
individual,  or  use  for  the  general  good.  The  master — 
or  "  trainer,"  as  he  delights  to  call  him — "  may  join 
in,"  but  not  "  interfere  with  the  sports  ;  "  he  must  allow 
every  child  "  to  follow  its  own  bent ;  "  he  must  observe 
"  the  varieties  of  tastes  and  dispositions  "  as  shown  in 
the  occupations  going  on  around  him,  "he  must  not 
place  things  out  of  the  way,  but  in  the  way ; "  "  amidst 
the  busy  scene"  he  "must  be  present,  not  to  check, 
but  to  encourage  youthful  gaiety."  All  must  be  "  free 
as  air.  If  otherwise  a  full  development  of  character 
would  not  take  place,  and  while  he  takes  no  notice  at 
the  moment,  he  nevertheless  marks  what  he  sees 
amiss." 

The  complement  of  all  this  was  the  use  made  of  what 
occurred  in  the  playground.  "  A.  moral  review  "  of 
the  occurrences  must  take  place  immediately  on  the 
return  to  the  "  covered  schoolroom,"  or  at  some  more 
fitting  time.  This  he  claims  is  accessary  to  the  m^ral 


THE  TRAINING  SYSTEM.  229 

power  of  the  playground.  Without  it,  its  power 
would  be  in  the  direction  of  evil.  The  master  must 
conscientiously  take  up  the  cases  of  wrong,  or  it  would 
be  better  to  have  no  playground.  But  such  a  review, 
however  wisely  conducted,  must  establish  a  sort  of 
restraint  on  the  conduct  of  the  children,  and  the  more 
constant  the  review  the  stronger  the  restraint.  Cer- 
tainly it  might  be  as  he  says  a  moral  restraint  rather 
than  a  physical  one,  but  nevertheless,  so  far  as  it  was 
a  restraint  at  all,  it  would  prevent  that  freedom  of 
action  he  was  so  anxious  to  secure.  But  the  practice 
itself  we  regard  as  an  unmixed  power  for  good,  if 
carried  out  as  Stow,  or  as  Abbott — who  so  admirably 
carried  out  the  practice — would  have  it.  All  being 
calm,  no  feeling  excited,  no  passions  at  play,  the  con- 
duct is  to  be  quietly  but  graphically  described — the 
actor  not  being  indicated — the  points  in  which  the 
good  or  evil  consisted  brought  out  strongly,  the  con- 
sciences of  the  children  appealed  to  as  to  the  moral 
quality  of  the  action,  the  teachings  of  God's  word 
referred  to,  that  there  may  be  no  misgiving,  and  then 
the  whole  thing  approved  or  condemned  by  a  simple 
expression  of  the  moral  judgment  of  children  and 
teacher — with  a  "  go  and  do  likewise,"  or  a  "  sin  no 
more,"  as  the  final  solemn  appeal. 

Stow,  though  claiming  such  freedom  for  the  child  as 
would  induce  it  to  exhibit  itself  in  act  and  speech,  yet 
was  aware  of  the  hazard  run,  supposing  the  forces,  at 
work  wherever  many  are  associated  together,  were  in 
the  direction  of  evil.  He  next  claims  that  we  shall 
possess  ourselves  of  these  forces  and  give  them  that 
direction  which  will  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  children. 


230  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

These  forces  are  sympathy,  example  acting  through 
sympathy  and  imitation,  the  public  opinion,  and  the 
moral  atmosphere  or  moral  tone  of  the  school.  It  is 
to  these  he  seems  to  refer  in  the  expression  "  sympathy 
of  numbers."  Nowhere  has  he  defined  this  term  ;  but 
as  it  is  of  frequent  recurrence,  it  is  easy  to  gather  from 
its  connections  that  he  refers  to  one  or  other,  and  at 
times  to  all  of  the  forces  now  enumerated. 

Children,  especially  if  nearly  of  an  age,  are  strongly 
attracted  to  each  other,  arid  the  sympathy  which  thus 
draws  is  a  great  force  in  stimulating  into  activity  powers 
which  would  otherwise  lie  dormant.  Thus  it  is  fre- 
quently observed  that  a  child,  with  no  natural  bias  or 
aptitude,  when  placed  with  other  children,  after  a  time 
develops  a  certain  amount  of  the  same  power  as  that 
for  which  these  are  remarkable.  "  You  place  a  child 
that  has  no  natural  talent  for  music  among  children 
who  possess  this  gift,  and  under  their  tutelage  he  will 
soon  learn  to  sing.  This  fact  has  been  fully  substanti- 
ated in  schools."  Now  it  is  important  to  notice  that 
this  force,  which  attracts  child  to  child  and  stimulates 
each  to  be  what  it  observes  in  the  other,  becomes  much 
intensified  by  the  mere  aggregation  of  numbers.  Here 
the  power  of  sympathy  becomes  irresistible  in  leading 
the  child  to  attempt  what  it  sees  in  others.  Hence 
sympathy  is  a  great  moral  agent,  and  may  be  powerful 
for  good  or  evil  In  the  hands  of  a  skilful  operator  it 
may  be  the  instrument  of  unlimited  good.  A  conse- 
quence of  sympathy  between  child  and  child  is  poignant 
distress,  when  a  child  finds  itself  excluded  from  the 
sympathy  of  its  fellowe.  and  this  distress  is  much  the 
greater  if  the  sympathy  of  his  associates  is  against  some 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  231 

act  of  his  own.  In  such  a  case  the  very  nature  of  this 
feeling  would  lead  him  to  try  to  regain  his  place  in  the 
regard  of  his  companions,  and  to  obtain  their  sympathy 
in  his  favour,  by  avoiding  that  which  their  sympathy 
was  against. 

Oneness  of  feeling  is  likely  to  pervade  a  gathering  of 
children  who  are  witnesses  of  the  same  act,  or  who  are 
listening  to  the  same  narrative.  But  this  feeling  is 
much  greater  from  the  participation  of  many  than  if  it 
were  confined  to  a  few.  The  hidden  consciousness 
that  it  pervades  the  mass  gives  it  an  intensity  which 
otherwise  it  could  not  have.  It  is  the  same  under 
some  circumstances  with  adults.  Let  such  a  catastrophe 
as  that  of  the  Surrey  Music  Hall  occur,  and  the  feel- 
ings experienced  become  intensified  by  the  very  fact  of 
many  possessing  them.  Here,  then,  is  a  power  which 
judiciously  used  may  be  made  greatly  instrumental  of 
good.  Stow  would  have  it  brought  into  exercise  iu 
moral  lessons  and  in  cases  of  discipline.  Incidents  of 
conduct  should  be  so  described — not  indicating  indi- 
viduals— as  to  produce  the  desired  feeling  either  in 
favour  of  some  excellence,  or  against  the  carelessness  or 
guilt  of  some  fault. 

A  common  result  of  bringing  many  together  with 
similar  objects  and  pursuits  is  to  establish — tacitly  it 
may  be — certain  rules  and  customs  by  which  everything 
is  tried,  and  to  which  every  one  must  submit.  Any 
one  coming  into  such  a  community  is  soon  aware  that 
this  is  expected  from  him.  Nor  can  he  remain  long  in 
it  without  wishing  to  stand  well  with  it,  to  avoid  its 
censure,  and  to  have  its  approval.  Every  one  desires 
the  approval,  and  has  a  reverence  for  the  judgment  of 


232  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

the  society  to  which  he  belongs.  So  it  is  in  school. 
Here  are  rules,  customs,  and  opinions,  as  stringent  as 
in  any  other  society ;  and  each  of  its  members  has  a 
desire  for  its  approval,  a  reverence  for  its  judgment,  a 
fear  of  its  condemnation,  and  a  dread  of  its  scorn.  It 
is  in  this  condition  that  we  have  what  is  termed  the 
public  opinion  of  the  school,  and  in  it  we  have  a  force 
which  insensibly  moulds  the  actions  and  habits,  and 
gives  tone  to  the  thinkings  and  feelings  of  all  that  enter 
it.  "  From  the  day  that  a  youth  enters  this  new  circle," 
says  Long,  "  his  thoughts  and  actions  become  unavoid- 
ably affected  by  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  others  ;  it 
is,  in  fact,  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  member  of 
society.  He  has  exchanged  the  narrow  circle  of  his 
family  for  a  wider  circle,  which  gradually  embraces  all 
the  relations  of  social  life.  On  entering  the  new  society 
he  is  like  a  stranger  who  enters  a  foreign  country  ;  he 
cannot  do  as  he  pleases,  or  as  he  is  accustomed  to  do. 
but  he  must  conform  to  that  which  he  finds  established. 
His  words,  Ids  thoughts,  his  actions,  in  a  few  days  par- 
take of  the  general  tone,  and  the  individual  character 
is  lost  in  that  of  the  mass."  Besides,  the  very  fact  of 
the  tendency  to  desire  the  good  opinion  of  his  asso- 
ciates, and  the  influence  of  sympathy,  will  lead  him  to 
seek  in  them  his  example  and  rule  of  conduct  rather 
than  in  the  instructions  of  his  master.  And  for  the 
same  reason  there  may  be  a  force  and  effectiveness  in 
their  opinions  and  judgment  far  exceeding  any  influence 
or  authority  of  the  master. 

Hence  it  appears  that  the  public  opinion  of  the 
school  is  that  which  really  moulds  the  character  of  its 
inmates.  How  important,  then,  that  it  shall  be  on  the 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  233 

side  of  goodness  and  virtue  !  How  desirable  that 
healthy  influences  shall  be  at  work  to  give  it  the 
right  tone  !  How  necessary  that  the  influence  of  the 
master,  his  discipline,  his  moral  control,  his  incessant 
activity,  and  his  highest  intelligence  shall  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  its  formation  and  direction  !  Else  nothing 
but  evil  can  be  the  result.  For  a  schoo^  so  unhappily 
situated  as  that  where  the  master  lacks  the  power  or 
the  disposition  to  establish  a  right  public  opinion  and 
to  work  through  it  for  the  good  of  its  members,  must 
be  a  place  of  unmixed  evil  In  such  a  case  the  remarks 
of  Reid  are  too  true.  "  The  influence  of  youth  on  each 
other,  anywhere  but  in  the  well-regulated  family,  tends 
to  be  vicious — indeed,  very  generally  is  so,  where 
numbers  are  long  together.  There  is  no  seriousness, 
no  sense  of  responsibility  for  what  they  say  or  do 
about  them  ;  they  are  full  of  levity  and  frolic,  light- 
hearted,  short-sighted,  and  careless — 

"  Turning  to  mirth  all  things  of  earth." 

Their  public  opinion  is  all  in  favour  of  a  bold,  reck- 
less jollity,  turning  the  most  serious  subjects  to  ridi- 
cule, laughing  at  any  very  properly  behaved  one  who 
may  come  amongst  them  till  he  becomes  as  bad  as 
themselves ;  sneering  at  the  moral  lessons  of  the 
teacher,  which  they  often  mimic  in  his  absence. 
While  thus  subdued  before  the  master,  they  are  often 
rude,  rough,  tyrannical,  and  unfeeling  to  each  other, 
and  where  they  escape  the  practice  of  grosser  vices 
(by  no  means  a  frequent  case),  they  learn  amongst 
each  other  to  laugh  to  scorn  those  minor  virtues, 
delicacies,  and  proprieties,  which  are  the  outposts  of 


234  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

the  greater.  In  any  indolence,  carelessness,  neglect, 
or  lesser  vice,  each  is  supported  by  the  example  of 
others,  hy  the  opinion  of  his  fellows  in  its  favour,  or 
at  least  hy  the  want  of  that  opinion  against  it.  The 
master  is  in  a  minority;  the  energetically  well  dis- 
posed are  in  a  minority,  and  the  majority,  with  more 
than  the  usual  tyranny  of  a  majority,  carry  the  day  in 
favour  of  recklessness,  and  a  careless  indifference  to 
virtue.  With  beings  so  impulsive,  so  unreflecting, 
with  little  sense  of  duty,  not  much  sense  of  decency 
or  propriety,  not  even  worldly  prudence,  the  spirit  of 
ridicule,  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  enjoyment,  are  su- 
preme ;  the  idle  and  careless  are  encouraged,  the  good 
contaminated,  good  principles  and  good  habits  gradually 
undermined,  and  a  foundation  is  laid  for  evil  on  which 
the  world  soon  raises  a  large  superstructure." 

Stow,  with  many  others,  fully  aware  of  this  ten- 
dency of  public  opinion  to  become  a  power  for  evil, 
would  have  the  master  bend  all  his  energies  on  enter- 
ing a  new  sphere,  if  he  found  it  did  not  already  exist, 
to  create  a  right  state  of  opinion.  But  he  was  also 
aware  that  the  ahility  to  do  so  would  depend  alto- 
gether on  his  character.  He  would  fail  unless  he  had 
the  power  of  winning  regard,  of  attaching  the  children 
to  himself,  and  thus  of  inspiring  them  with  respect 
for  his  opinions  and  wishes ;  he  would  fail  unless  there 
existed  as  elements  of  his  character  consistency,  justice, 
impartiality,  disinterestedness,  and  kindness ;  he  would 
fail  unless  his  example  was  what  he  wished  their  con- 
duct to  be.  But  supposing  the  master  to  be  the  right 
man,  then  his  first  efforts  must  be  directed  to  the  for- 
mation of  the  public  opinion  of  his  school.  Every- 


THE  TRAINING  SYSTEM.  235 

thing  else  must  give  way,  or  be  subservient  to  this. 
There  could  not  be  any  right  moral  training  until  this 
great  source  and  medium  of  influence  was  established. 
But  let  it  exist,  and  then  there  would  be  not  only  a 
force  ever  working  for  good,  but  there  would  be  an 
influence  ready  at  any  moment  to  be  brought  to  bear 
in  respect  of  any  action  on  which  a  common  judgment 
might  be  sought. 

The  joint  action  of  sympathy,  intensified  by  its  par- 
ticipation by  many,  and  of  public  opinion,  is  to  pro- 
duce that  oneness  of  feeling  and  sentiment  which, 
when  in  favour  of  right,  constitutes  what  Stow  calls 
the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  school,  and  which,  as  the 
ultimate  result,  forms  pre-eminently  the  "  sympathy 
of  numbers."  "  By  oft-repeated  simultaneousness  of 
thought,  action,  and  emotion,"  says  Currie,  "  the  mass 
becomes  welded  together,  takes  on  one  stamp,  breathes 
one  spirit.  .  .  .  This  is  that  state  of  feeling  so 
much  spoken  of  as  '  the  sympathy  of  numbers,'  a  con- 
ventional expression,  but  one  which  indicates  what  is 
in  the  first  instance  an  absolute  necessity  to  any  train- 
ing at  all,  and  what  when  established  is  a  lever  of 
irresistible  power  in  the  hands  of  him  who  can  wield 
it.  When  the  school  collectively  has  come  to  have  a 
soul  which  the  teacher  knows  how  to  stir  up,  when  he 
can  lay  his  hand  upon  its  pulse  and  feel  how  it  beats, 
then  has  he  the  training  power;  not  otherwise.  It 
should  be  well  noted  that  this  training  power  is  not  a 
thing  resident  in  the  teacher  alone;  it  lies  in  the 
society  which  forms  the  school.  The  teacher's  duty  is 
to  form  it  and  guide  it.  It  is  a  power  capable  of  great 
things;  available  in  every  direction  of  activity j  at 


236  SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION. 

once  the  stimulus  and  the  guide  to  progress.  And 
when  in  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative  he  brings  it  to 
bear  on  the  faults  or  excellences  of  the  pupil,  it  is 
instantly  felt  and  acknowledged.  The  effort  to  acquire 
it  is  the  teacher's  first  trial ;  the  establishment  of  it 
his  great  triumph." 

Such  vvere  the  aims  and  principles  advocated  by 
Stow  for  the  moral  training  of  children.  He  sought 
to  enlighten  the  conscience  and  to  exercise  it;  he 
insisted  on  action  in  every  case  in  which  it  was  pos- 
sible to  enforce  it;  he  required  a  playground  where, 
amidst  fun  and  frolic,  the  children  might  exhibit  them- 
selves as  they  were;  he  claimed  that  the  conduct  of 
the  playground  should  be  reviewed,  and  moral  judg- 
ments elicited  in  the  light  of  divine  truth ;  and  he 
insisted  that  there  should  be  a  constant  effort  to  form 
and  guide  that  "  sympathy  of  numbers "  which  he 
looked  upon  as  the  most  powerful  agent  in  moulding 
the  character.  Possessed  of  these  he  could  do  away 
with  inferior  and  selfish  motives,  such  as  corporal  pun- 
ishment, and  would  train  the  children  to  act  from  the 
highest  principles  of  virtue  and  goodness.  Such  a 
"  moral  training  school "  he  deemed  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  that  could  be  conferred  on  any  com 
munity. 

The  points  in  this  system  that  have  challenged  most 
discussion  are  those  relating  to  the  principles  and 
methods  of  intellectual  culture,  and  to  the  peculiar 
organization  which  the  former  seem  to  require  Many 
things  found  in  operation  in  Stow's  schools  were  no 
doubt  common  to  all  schools,  and  others  had  been 
adopted  from  Wilderspin  and  others ;  but  there  were 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  237 

distinctive  features  which,  though  not  new,  were  yet 
original.  Starting  with  no  pre-conccived  theory,  and 
having  no  purpose  at  first  but  the  elevation  of  those 
whose  degraded  condition  had  taken  such  hold  of  his  • 
mind,  his  main  principles  and  methods  were  the  off- 
spring of  his  experience.  This  much  must  be  con- 
ceded. Doubtless  many  an  earnest  worker  had  taught 
on  similar  principles  and  had  employed  similar  methods, 
and  here  and  there  in  some  forgotten  book  there  might 
be  found  expositions  of  similar  practices.  Yet  Stow 
was  not  indebted  but  to  his  one  work  for  his  know- 
ledge  of  them.  It  is  to  this  fact  that  must  be  traced 
both  his  excellences  and  his  defects.  His  own  practice 
was  not  extensive  enough  to  show  him  that  principles 
which  are  quite  sound  when  applied  to  some  subjects 
or  to  some  ages,  are  quite  inapplicable  in  other  circum- 
stances. His  wonderful  success,  too,  in  the  application 
of  his  principles  in  the  sphere  in  which  they  were  tried, 
prevented  him  seeing  the  limits  within  which  each  was 
sound  and  efficacious.  Hence  he  pushes  things  too  far. 
He  does  not  see  that  seemingly  opposite  principles, 
which  within  certain  limits  harmonize  in  their  work- 
ing, when  pushed  beyond  their  sphere,  neutralize  each 
other.  Here  is  the  secret  of  the  opposition  which  his 
system  has  in  many  cases  encountered.  Had  he  but 
claimed  for  each  principle  or  method  its  legitimate 
value,  had  lie  but  well-defined  the  nature,  operation, 
and  sphere  of  each,  he  would  have  secured  acceptance 
where,  as  it  was,  he  too  often  excited  scorn. 

A  leading  principle  of  Stow  relating  to  the  culture 
of  the  intellect  is  that  the  master's  mind  should  be  the 
constant  source  of  the  pupil's  activity,  instruction,  and 


238  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

training.  Others  than  he  "  might  gain  great  expert- 
ness  in  forms  of  questioning,  in  dealing  with  the  me- 
chanical, and  in  points  of  order ;  but  for  awakening 
thought,  stimulating  and  directing  inquiry,  and  evolv- 
ing energies  of  intellect,"  none  but  he  could  succeed. 
"  To  submit  for  hours  daily  the  finest  mechanism  on 
earth — the  human  spirit  with  all  its  intellectual  ener- 
gies and  capabilities — to  be  handled  or  tossed  about  " 
by  inexperienced  youth  or  crudely-formed  minds,  such 
as  those  at  work  in  the  schools  of  that  period,  was 
thought  to  involve  peril  to  the  agents  themselves,  and 
to  be  one  from  which  valuable  results  to  the  pupils — 
not  to  say  the  highest — could  never  be  obtained.  Those 
employed  were  too  young  to  make  impressive  or  attrac- 
tive, or  anything  but  a  drudgery,  what  was  necessary  to 
stimulate  the  intellect  or  to  awaken  moral  power.  The 
character  was  too  immature — wanting  in  depth  and 
power — to  mould  rightly  by  its  own  silent  influence 
those  around.  The  ability  to  create  an  atmosphere — 
genial  and  gladdening — the  moral  life  of  which  should 
be  of  the  healthiest,  could  not  exist.  And  it  was 
thought  that  the  very  poor,  whose  school  life  is  of  the 
shortest,  and  whose  means  of  intellectual  culture  are  of 
the  scantiest,  have  peculiar  claims  to  be  put  into  con- 
stant intercourse  with  the  highest  order  of  mind  and 
intelligence  that  it  is  possible  to  secure. 

That  the  mind  of  the  master  and  of  the  pupil  might 
be  in  immediate  contact  all  the  livelong  day  would 
require  not  merely  a  new  arrangement  of  existing 
schools,  but  an  altogether  different  class  of  school. 
Hence,  as  a  proper  sequence,  there  grew  up  at  Glasgow 
the  system  of  "  graded  schools,"  where  each  school  was 


THE  TRAINING  SYSTEM.  239 

in  fact  but  one  large  class,  pursuing  the  same  studies 
and  receiving  the  same  lessons  under  an  adult  master. 
In  these  schools,  the  large  group  forming  each  school 
was  broken  up  into  smaller  groups  only  for  the  repeti- 
tion or  recapitulation  of  lessons  previously  given  by 
the  master.  In  other  places  not  so  favourably  circum- 
stanced, or  where  the  thing  was  misapprehended,  the 
grossest  absurdities  were  practised  by  attempts  to  carry 
out  this  principle.  Thus,  a  huge  gallery  was  erected, 
on  which  were  gathered  children  of  ages  varying  from 
six  to  thirteen,  and  of  course  of  very  different  attain- 
ments and  capabilities,  to  be  instructed  at  the  same 
time  in  the  same  subject.  The  idea  is  sufficiently  ludi- 
crous. It  would  be  thought  that  no  sane  man  or  prac- 
tical teacher  could  ever  dream  of  instructing  with  equal 
efficiency,  at  the  same  moment,  in  the  same  lesson,  a 
hundred  children  varying  to  the  extent  these  did  in 
age  and  attainment.  Yet  the  thing  was  attempted  in 
hundreds  of  instances.  Naturally  it  broke  down,  and 
though  such  schools  were  said  to  be  on  his  system,  yet 
Stow's  first  principle  was  sacrificed  or  acted  on  but  in 
a  very  modified  form.  In  other  places,  especially  in 
America — a  few  years  ago  Ohio  alone  possessing  120 — 
groups  of  graded  schools  were  established,  and  the 
principle  fairly  worked  out. 

But  is  the  principle,  broadly  stated  as  it  has  been, 
itself  a  sound  one  ?  A  principle  which  gives  the  entire 
intellectual  culture  of  the  pupil  into  the  hands  of  the 
master — nay,  more,  that  requires  that  every  mental 
effort  of  the  pupil  in  school  shall  be  stimulated  and 
directed  by  the  action  of  the  master's  mind — is  this 
sound  ?  We  think  not.  But  let  us  be  understood. 


240  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

We  strenuously  advocate  that  the  master  shall  place 
himself  frequently  every  day  in  contact  with  his  chil- 
dren's minds  for  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  But 
we  think  that  an  unsound  principle,  which  seems  to 
make  no  recognition  of  the  learner's  independent  efforts 
in  order  to  his  intellectual  growth.  Fully  carried  out 
this  principle  would  do  away  with  text-books  as  use- 
less things,  would  do  away  with  the  independent  exer- 
tion of  the  pupil's  own  mind,  and  prevent  him  having 
the  opportunity  of  employing  any  of  his  previous  ac- 
quisitions, except  as  required  by  the  master.  The  pupil 
is  simply  an  instrument  on  whose  strings  it  is  only  the 
master's  privilege  to  play.  In  fact,  Stow  ia  too  sweep- 
ing. It  is  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  to  the  opposite 
extremity  of  the  arc.  Up  to  this  time  too  little  value 
had  been  attached  to  the  living  voice  in  elementary 
training.  The  work  of  the  teacher  was  only  to  hear 
and  correct  what  his  pupils  had  prepared.  Stow 
discovered  that  oral  lessons  made  lads  sharp  and  intelli- 
gent, and  from  the  extreme  of  doing  nothing  for  them, 
he  rushed  to  the  opposite  of  doing  everything.  Now 
there  can  be  no  question  that  in  early  childhood  and  in 
the  commencement  of  entirely  new  studies,  the  master's 
mind  should  be  the  source  of  the  pupil's  acquisitions 
and  of  his  activity.  But  it  is  of  equal  importance  that 
as  he  gains  power,  he  shall  have  opportunities  to  exert 
it  without  aid.  Tt  is  also  true  that  a  master's  help  is 
often  more  valuable  to  a  pupil  after  he  has  exerted 
himself,  than  it  would  be  in  removing  difficulties  from 
his  path,  or  even  in  enabling  him  to  master  them. 

The  mistake  of  Stow  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  those 
whose  practices  he  wished  to  avoid  on  the  other,  is  not 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  241 

seeing  that  for  the  intellectual  growth  of  the  child  two 
things  are  necessary.  Teaching,  which  belongs  to  the 
province  of  the  master,  is  the  one  ;  learning,  which  is 
the  work  of  the  child,  is  the  other.  The  former  re- 
quires that  the  master  shall  provide  suitable  nourish- 
ment for  each  mental  capability,  that  he  shall  stimulate 
each  mind  to  action,  that  he  shall  direct  the  employ- 
ment of  its  energies,  that  he  shall  solve  its  difficulties, 
and  that  he  shall  enlarge  its  views. 

Learning,  on  the  othe^  hand,  requires  the  indepen- 
dent exertion  of  the  pupil's  own  mind,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  employing,  unaided,  any  of  his  previous 
acquisitions.  It  requires  that  suitable  books  be  placed 
in  the  learner's  hands,  that  he  shall  be  taught  to  pre- 
pare his  lessons,  to  dig  out  meanings  for  himself,  and 
to  meet  and  if  possible  master  difficulties.  To  corn- 
bin  teaching  and  learning  is  one  of  the  severest  prob- 
lems in  an  elementary  school;  but  that  teacher  who 
sets  himself  resolutely  to  solve  it  will  be  more  success- 
ful than  even  his  more  talented  neighbour,  whose  sole 
dependence  is  his  ability  to  teach. 

Another  principle  advocated  by  Stow  is  that  in 
teaching  nothing  should  be  told,  that  by  a  proper  use 
of  analogy,  experiment,  instance,  or  other  mode  of 
illustration  the  pupil  may  be  led  to  discover.  This 
valuable  principle  is  really  but  a  part  of  a  more  general 
expression  that  in  everything  relating  to  the  formation 
of  character  there  is  required  a  training  to  action  and 
self-help.  This  principle  fully  carried  out  would  be 
found  materially  to  limit  the  operation  of  the  former 
one.  In  fact  it  would  make  imperative  that  the  leainer 
shall  be  trusted  in  all  those  cases  in  which  he  can 


242  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

master  difficulties  without  extraneous  aid.  But  it  has 
not  full  scope  in  Stow's  system,  as  the  child's  mind  is 
always  supposed  to  be  in  contact  with  a  superior  one, 
no  provision  being  made  or  intended  for  unaided  effort 
by  the  child.  Still  as  a  principle  to  be  acted  on  in 
oral  lessons  it  received  his  earnest  support,  arid  indeed 
is  often  put  forth  by  him  as  the  special  feature  of  his 
system.  It  forms  on  the  intellectual  side  that  distinc- 
tion between  teaching  or  telling  and  training,  which 
distinguished,  as  he  contended,  his  methods  from  those 
ordinarily  prevalent.  Though  how  there  could  be 
teaching  of  the  highest  kind  where  this  principle  was 
absent,  it  is  impossible  to  see. 

Another  leading  principle  of  Stow's  was  that  the 
pupil  shall  commit  nothing  to  his  memory  but  what  hau 
passed  through  the  understanding.  Strong  objection 
has  been  taken  to  this  by  many  opponents  to  his  sys- 
tem. Is  it  certain  that  they  have  understood  his 
meaning  ?  It  has  become  an  axiom  through  the  labours 
of  the  followers  of  Pestalozzi  and  of  Wilderspin  that 
in  the  training  of  infants  "  ideas  shall  precede  words." 
Stow  would  have  the  instruction  of  boys  and  youths 
carried  out  in  the  same  sense.  Clear  insight  into  a  pro- 
cess should  be  substituted  for  blindly  following  a  rule, 
and  a  general  cultivation  of  the  intelligence  for  that  of 
the  verbal  memory.  Other  meaning  than  this  it  may  be 
safely  predicated  he  had  not.  Some  opinions  attributed 
to  him  are  opposed  to  many  places  in  his  -writings,  and 
certainly  to  the  practices  of  his  schools.  Yet  as  there 
are  very  important  principles  involved,  a  brief  notice 
of  some  of  the  suppositions  may  not  be  without  its  use 
in  denning  the  limits  of  the  points  in  dispute. 


THE  TRAINING  SYSTEM.  243 

Some  have  attributed  to  him  "  that  no  facts  shall  be 
acquired  by  children  unless  the  principles  under-lying 
them  are  first  made  clear — no  words  shall  be  committed 
to  their  memories,  nor  even  employed  in  their  hearing, 
unless  previously  explained  and  thoroughly\mderstood  " 
To  state  this  is  to  answer  it.  No  man  of  ordinary  in- 
telligence, with  opportunities  of  observing  childhood, 
and  with  the  habit  of  reflecting  on  what  comes  under 
his  notice,  could  for  a  moment  imagine  such  a  thing. 
Take  for  instance — words.  How  often,  from  earliest 
infancy,  must  many  fall  as  mere  sounds  upon  the  ear, 
and  how  long  through  this  must  there  be  familiarity  with 
them,  before  there  can  be  the  least  glimmering  of  the 
things  they  represent ; — and  as  to  their  full  import,  that 
can  be  reached  only  by  many  steps  of  approximation. 
How  many  words  children  acquire,  with  whose  meaning 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  become  acquainted,  is 
matter  of  daily  observation,  nor  could  it  be  prevented 
even  if  it  was  desirable.  Words  are  often  to  learners 
the  instruments  by  which  they  become  acquainted  with 
things.  Many  a  quality  would  escape  notice,  many  a 
thing  be  unobserved,  but  for  stored  words  quickening 
the  senses  and  stimulating  the  faculties. 

To  get  at  Stow's  meaning,  we  must  have  before  us 
what  was  in  his  mind  when  he  so  strenuously  insisted 
that  words  and  things  should  be  broken  down  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  young,  as  the  means  of  finding  them  a 
permanent  place  in  the  memory.  He  had  in  view  the 
almost  universal  practice  then  of  making  school  lore  a 
mere  matter  of  rote.  Verbiage,  by  dint  of  repetition, 
stimulated  by  the  twigs  of  the  birch,  was  laid  on  the 
memory,  to  the  great  peril  of  the  intellect,  often  to  its 


244  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

extinction.  Yet  it  was  thought  that  this  loading  of  the 
memory  with  forms,  signs  and  rules,  was  the  surest 
way,  permanent  though  not  speedy,  of  ensuring  the 
discipline  of  the  intellect.  Schooltime  was  not  the 
period  of  such  discipline,  hut  the  storing  time  of  the 
material.  The  real  discipline  would  he  at  the  later 
period,  amid  the  facts,  realities,  and  opportunities  of 
life.  Then  that  laid  up  in  school  would  come  to  have 
meaning  and  power,  and  he  that  had  the  largest  store 
would  win  the  most.  There  is  something  in  this  :  for 
instance,  one  whose  mind  was  well  filled  with  the 
principles  of  English,  would  ohtain  sooner  and  perhaps 
a  hetter  discipline  from  sterling  writers  of  English  than 
others  wanting  that  preparation.  But  would  this  be 
the  case  with  all  ?  Would  not  the  majority  he  deterred 
by  the  recollection  of  schoolwork,  from  following 
the  pursuits  that  were  to  give  such  work  its  value  ? 
Stow  doubted  of  the  many,  and  found  in  the  early  life 
of  the  child  a  warrant  for  the  other  practice.  From 
its  birth,  ideas  enter  the  mind  through  the  senses  of 
the  child,  and  rules  of  action  are  acquired  from  expe- 
rience of  realities ;  hence  Stow  sought  to  continue 
the  process  in  school.  Much  that  the  child  learns  is 
not  understood.  Many  words  are  picked  up  by  it 
whose  meanings  are  hidden  till  a  large  experience  sheds 
its  light  over  them.  The  same  thing  must  go  on  in 
school  and  in  life.  But  alongside  of  it  Stow  demands 
that  the  other  process  shall  run — that  in  the  work  of 
the  school  the  learner's  attention  shall  be  directed  to 
the  sense  as  well  as  to  the  form.  Though  it  be  true 
that  much  that  a  child  learns  in  school  must  remain 
without  significance  till  a  later  time,  though  it  be  true 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  245 

that  much  of  the  real  discipline  coming  to  him  from 
his  school  course  will  be  the  result  of  applying  what 
he  learns  there  in  the  pursuits  of  later  life,  yet  great 
advantage  in  present  discipline  and  future  power  must 
accrue  from  cultivating  the  intelligence  in  school. 

Some  have  understood  this  principle  to  warrant  the 
offering  to  children  reasons  for  everything  taught  to 
them,  while  others  have  understood  it  to  advocate  the 
training  of  the  logical  faculty  from  the  earliest  period. 
Such  as  would  give  reasons  for  everything  are  of  course 
opposed  to  dogmatic  teaching,  and  in  their  practice  ap- 
peal continually  to  the  understanding  to  justify  every- 
thing they  teach.  Now,  apart  from  the  point  whether 
children  should  he  confined  to  what  they  can  under- 
stand—and, if  so,  how  narrow,  how  contracted  the 
area  of  instruction, — it  cannot  hut  be  full  of  peril  to  a 
child  to  be  continually  addressed,  as  if  it  must  be  con- 
vinced by  argument  and  reason,  before  it  receives  what 
is  taught.  Conceit  would  be  the  least  evil  fostered  by 
such  a  course.  A  sceptical  habit  must  be  induced,  a 
habit  of  rejecting  everything  the  reason  of  which  is 
not  on  the  surface.  But  the  thing  itself  is  wrong ;  for 
not  only  are  many  things,  which  children  cannot  be 
prevented  knowing,  beyond  their  insight  as  to  causes  or 
reasons,  but  childhood  is  especially  the  season  of  faith, 
and  to  this  principle  of  faith  it  is  incumbent  on  us  to 
address  much  of  our  teaching.  Let  us  make  matters 
as  clear  as  we  can.  Let  us  be  careful  to  give  where  we 
can  ideas  with  words,  to  make  clear  processes,  to  bring 
within  the  intelligence  the  facts  we  give,  but  let  us  not 
appeal  to  our  pupils,  as  if  their  understanding  was  to 
be  the  arbiter  of  truth,  or  their  ability  to  see  the  rea- 


246  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

sons  of  a  thing  the  ground  on  which  they  are  to  give 
it  their  assent.  No !  The  principle  of  authority  is 
essential  in  early  education,  and  if  not  rightly  employed 
then,  suhmission  of  the  intellect  to  divine  truth  at  a 
later  period  must  not  be  expected. 

Nor  does  Stow's  rule  imply  that  the  logical  faculty, 
as  such,  is  to  be  trained  from  the  earliest  period.  This 
faculty  works  by  signs,  which  are  representatives  of 
generalizations  from  a  large  experience.  There  can  be 
no  proper  culture  of  its  higher  functions  until  the  ma- 
terials on  which  it  has  to  work  have  been  laid  up  in 
the  intelligence.  Its  office  is  to  elaborate  from  multi- 
tudes of  facts  and  ideas  more  general  ideas,  from  pre- 
mises already  in  possession  to  draw  conclusions,  and  by 
a  gradual  but  constant  approximation  to  arrive  at  truth. 
Now,  ere  this  can  be  attempted,  the  mind  must  have 
been  stored  with  ideas,  words  must  have  been  acquired, 
and  facts  of  all  kinds  and  from  all  sources  must  have 
been  lodged  in  the  memory.  Hence  it  follows  that  the 
cultivation  of  the  logical  faculty,  as  such,  is  not  merely 
out  of  place  at  an  early  period,  but  impossible.  But, 
nevertheless,  there  is  an  "  implicit  exercise"  of  this 
faculty,  long  before  the  individual  comes  to  the  consci- 
ous exercise  of  it,  in  its  ultimate  sphere.  Judgment 
and  its  associated  acts  of  mind,  are  manifested  from 
the  very  earliest  infancy,  the  mind  then  acting  on 
things  present  to  the  senses  in  a  similar  way  to  what  it 
does  at  a  later  time  on  its  own  creations.  Comparison 
and  inference  are  not  strange  acts  even  to  a  young 
child.  Now,  so  long  as  the  matters  are  within  the 
sphere  of  its  intelligence,  most  valuable  results  may  be 
expected  from  the  right  culture  of  this  implicit  judg- 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  247 

meut  and  incipient  reason,  care  being  taken  not  to  tax 
the  nascent  facility  beyond  its  power. 

This  is  what  Stow  would  have  done.  Thousands  of 
things  exist  around  on  which  a  child  may  be  exercised 
in  discovering  relations,  resemblances,  and  proximate 
way  as  to  elicit  "how?  "  to  be  followed  by  "in  this  way," 
causes.  Many  things  may  be  brought  before  it  in  such  a 
each  involving  an  intelligent  act  of  the  mind,  and  an 
implicit  exercise  of  the  understanding.  And  many  a 
process  may  be  made  to  excite  a  higher  intelligence,  by 
evolving  it  from  the  simple  reasons  not  beyond  the 
child's  ability  to  master — which  underlie  it. 

Another  principle  advocated  by  Stow  is  that  in  teach- 
ing any  subject  its  outlines  should  be  given  first,  and 
in  subsequent  lessons  the  details.  As  thus  stated,  few 
things  could  be  imagined  more  absurd  when  placed 
alongside  of  his  dictum,  that  things  must  pass  through 
the  understanding  before  being  charged  on  the  memory. 
Outlines  express  results.  They  are  summaries,  general- 
izations, chief  heads.  To  give  these  first  would  be  to 
do  what  he  so  strongly  condemned  as  the  vice  of  the 
school  system  of  his  time,  and  would  effectually  pre- 
vent the  admission  of  any  subject  into  the  understand- 
ing. The  natural  order  is  to  gather  facts  first.  There 
can  be  no  science  until  the  facts  are  known.  There  must 
be  language  before  there  can  be  a  grammar,  and  the 
facts  of  a  language  must  be  known  before  the  study  of 
its  grammar  can  commence.  Begin  the  study  of  a  lan- 
guage by  taking  an  outline  of  its  grammar,  and  intel- 
ligence will  be  slow  to  follow.  The  more  meagre  the 
outline  the  more  difficult  the  process,  and  so  with  other 
things. 


24:8  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

Stow  meant  no  such  thing.  Yet  two  of  his  fol- 
lowers, earnest  workers  for  thirty  years  past  in  the 
educational  field,  run  away  with  by  this  notion,  have 
introduced  extensively  into  schools  lesson  books  in 
science  and  Scripture,  professedly  framed  on  the  plan 
of  giving  the  outlines  first,  the  result  being  what  might 
have  been  expected.  In  the  former  books  the  young 
mind,  which  longs  for  flowers  and  fancies,  is  put  into 
a  valley  of  bones,  very  many  and  very  dry.  In  the 
others,  every  little  touch  of  nature  that  gives  charm  to 
the  narrative,  or  that  would  come  home  to  the  sympathy 
of  the  child  is  rigidly  excluded — shut  out  by  the  rule 
of  giving  the  outline  first.  Stow  intended  no  such 
thing;  in  fact,  he  means  the  very  reverse.  Em- 
ploying the  figure  of  a  painter  as  descriptive  of  the 
work  of  the  teacher,  he  urges  the  latter  to  give  those 
facts  connected  with  a  subject  that  are  prominent — 
likely  to  fall  within  the  child's  experience,  and  with 
which  it  will  readily  sympathize,  ere  he  offers  those 
facts  which  from  their  very  nature  demand  a  large 
acquaintance  with  the  subject  before  they  can  be  ap- 
proached at  all.  Thus  to  give  the  outlines  of  grammar 
would  in  Stow's  meaning  include  such  special  facts  as 
would  come  under  a  learner's  cognizance,  and  prepare 
him  for  an  intelligent  study  of  the  subject.  He  would 
have  patent  facts  acquired  before  niceties  of  inflexion, 
peculiarities  of  idiom,  or  any  such  details  were  ap- 
proached. Such  a  course  is,  in  fact,  the  only  legitimate 
way  of  bringing  any  subject  within  the  grasp  of 
children,  or  of  making  the  course  of  instruction  to 
accord  with  mental  aptitudes  and  development. 

Dealing   with   rude   and  untutored    minds,   whose 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  249 

energies  he  wished  to  awaken  and  direct  to  noble  ends, 
it  was  an  early  problem  with  Stow  as  to  the  most 
effective  means  of  doing  so.  Seeking  willing  co-opera- 
tion at  their  hands,  he  must  have  a  method,  which 
would  not  only  convey  truth  to  the  intellect,  but  that 
would  exercise  strong  interest  in  the  process,  and  that 
would  make  them  fellow- helpers  in  working  it  out. 
Knowing  the  power  of  such  works  as  "Cinderella," 
«  Children  in  the  Wood,"  "  Jack  and  the  Bean  Stalk," 
with  young  children,  and  of  "  Robinson  Crusoe " 
and  "  Pilgrim's  Progress "  with  older  ones,  he  found 
in  them  the  method  he  sought.  Soon  he  became  aware 
that  an  engine  of  great  educational  power  was  possessed 
by  him  who  could  excite  the  conceptive  faculty,  operate 
on  the  fancy,  or  bring  the  imagination  of  children  into 
play.  "  Picturing  out  in  words  "  henceforth  became 
a  constant  feature  of  his  method,  and  a  chief  in- 
strument for  awakening  intellectual  and  moral  life. 
"  Picturing  out "  aims  to  transfer  a  picture,  idea,  or 
conception,  from  the  mind  of  the  teacher  to  that  of 
the  pupil  The  analogy  is  that  of  the  painter,  who 
does  by  the  pencil  what  the  teacher  is  expected  to  do 
by  his  words.  This  analogy  suggetts  a  sufficiently 
difficult  process.  It  being  much  harder  to  paint  to 
the  imagination  by  words,  so  as  to  give  distinct  and 
complete  conceptions,  than  it  is  by  the  pencil.  Words, 
as  they  pass  from  the  lips  of  the  teacher  are  evanescent, 
while  each  stroke  of  the  pencil  is  permanent.  Besides 
the  pupil  has  to  form  his  own  picture  from  the  mate- 
rials with  which  he  is  provided,  and  can  do  it  but 
gradually;  but  the  scene  on  the  canvas  is  presented  as 
a  whole,  and  may  be  taken  in  at  a  glance,  or  examined 


250  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

in  detail.  This  process  of  painting  in  words — "  pic- 
turing out,"  consists  in  graphic  description,  aided  by 
analogy,  familiar  illustrations,  and  suitable  gestures. 
To  these  Stow  would  add  interrogation,  ellipses,  simul- 
taneous answers,  and  sympathy.  But  here  he  evidently 
confounds  devices  which  a  teacher  may  employ  to 
carry  his  pupils  along  with  him,  or  to  discover  how 
far  successful  he  is  in  getting  them  to  form  the  picture 
with  what  alone  is  essential  to  the  picturing  process. 
These  things  may  be  of  advantage  where  picturing  in 
words  is  employed,  but  do  not  constitute  any  part  of 
the  process  itself. 

Stow  offers  the  method  of  picturing  in  words  as 
applicable  to  every  subject  and  at  every  age.  This  is 
akin  to  the  offer  to  cure  every  ailment  by  one  specific. 
Tt  is  as  if  the  mind  had  not  a  variety  of  powers,  as  if 
these  had  no  law  of  development,  and  as  if  there  were 
not  differences  in  the  subjects  on  which  it  employs  its 
energies.  Into  this  absurdity  Stow  was  led  by  a  very 
preposterous  notion,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  nearer  the 
truth  to  say  that  paternal  affection  for  the  method  led 
him  to  adopt  the  notion,  "  that  every  word  either  re- 
presents an  object  or  a  combination  of  objects,  or  may 
be  represented  by  words  representing  objects."  Now, 
to  this,  it  is  sufficient  to  reply  that  words  not  only 
represent  things,  but  processes  and  relations,  and  that 
while  some  of  the  former  admit  of  being  "pictured 
out,"  the  latter  are  out  of  its  sphere.  The  origin  of 
many  words  is  involved  in  obscurity ;  other  words, 
though  derived  from  sensible  objects,  have  completely 
lost  their  original  meaning,  and  are  now  expressive  of 
purely  mental  states ;  others  relate  to  intellectual  opera- 


THE   TRAINING    SYSTEM.  251 

tions  which  have  no  counterpart  whatever  in  the 
world  of  sense.  Hence  the  sphere  of  the  method  is 
much  more  contracted  than  was  claimed  for  it,  but  in 
that  sphere  it  is  not  only  effective  but  indispensable. 

First,  it  must  be  conceded  that  certain  classes  of 
words  admit  of  the  application  of  this  method.  It 
will  help  to  determine  what  these  are,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  to  picture  out  words  is  to  take  the 
ideas  embodied  in  the  words,  and  to  spread  them  out 
before  the  mind,  so  as  to  make  the  things  for  which 
they  stand  visible  to  the  mind's  eye.  Picturing  out 
words,  therefore,  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  means  by 
which  a  child  is  enabled  to  form  an  idea  of  the  thing 
which  the  word  represents  when  there  are  no  means 
of  presenting  the  thing  itself  to  the  child's  senses. 
It  is  thus  one  of  three  ways  by  which  a  child's  mind 
is  furnished  with  ideas  or  mental  pictures  of  things. 
These  ways  are,  presenting  the  object  itself  for  exami- 
nation, presenting  a  drawing  of  it,  and  describing  in 
words  aiding  the  description  with  suitable  gesture  and 
familiar  illustration.  The  last  is  picturing  out,  and  is 
inferior  to  the  other  two,  except  as  a  preparatory  pro- 
cess, when  it  excites  interest  and  leads  to  an  exami- 
nation of  the  object  with  closer  attention.  Suppose, 
as  a  simple  instance,  that  the  word  cube  occurred  in  a 
reading  lesson,  and  it  was  found  that  no  child  had  any 
1  knowledge  of  the  thing,  the  idea  would  be  best  given 
by  placing  a  cube  before  the  class  for  examination,  and 
drawing  attention  to  what  was  essential  to  it,  in  com- 
parison with  other  things ;  or  a  fairly  correct  idea 
might  be  given  by  drawing  a  cube  on  the  black-board. 
But  supposing  that  the  means  are  not  at  hand  to  adopt 


252  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

either  of  these  modes,  then  by  a  verbal  description, 
illustrated  by  reference  to  a  slate,  or  a  page  of  the 
book,  or  anything  at  hand  for  the  ideas  of  a  square 
and  of  surface,  and  by  a  motion  of  the  hand  describing 
a  cube  a  child  might  be  led  to  form  an  idea,  so  far 
accurate  as  to  enable  him  to  pick  out  a  cubical  figure 
from  a  number  of  dissimilar  objects. 

Such  a  method  of  verbal  description  of  things  re- 
presented by  words  is  indispensable  to  every  teacher 
who  would  rightly  deal  with  the  reading  lesson. 
Occasions  are  demanding  its  exercise  every  day,  and 
it  deserves — as  from  the  teacher  alive  to  the  importance 
of  vivifying  the  reading  lesson  it  will  receive— the 
most  strenuous  efforts  to  acquire  skill  in  it.  But  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  few  teachers  know  its  value.  Few 
students  in  training  at  Normal  Colleges,  except  such  as 
come  from  infants'  schools,  ever  attempt  more  than  to 
explain — that  is,  to  give  synonymous  expressions,  or 
a  loose  paraphrase  of  words,  when  engaged  on  what 
they  misname  exposition  of  a  reading  lesson. 

But  the  method  is  of  wider  application  than  to 
words.  Scenes,  persons,  and  things,  near  or  remote, 
of  other  times  or  other  lands,  or  at  home  and  now, 
admit  of  being  vividly  presented  and  conceived. 
"When  words  as  representatives  of  things  are  dealt 
with,  the  idea-forming  faculty  alone  is  brought  into 
exercise.  But  now  a  higher  effort  of  mind,  though 
one  involving  this,  is  required.  Imagination  is  ap- 
pealed to  when  a  scene,  or  a  person  not  present,  is  to 
be  realized.  In  common  with  the  process  on  words, 
the  conceptive  power  must  be  in  play,  either  in  form- 
ing new  ideas  or  recalling  old  ones.  The  materials 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  253 

entering  into  the  picture  must  be  of  familiar  things, 
and  these  must  be  summoned  vividly  into  the  mind. 
This  is  essential.  Mistake  here  will  spoil  the  process. 
If  the  parts  of  the  picture  are  not  ideas  which  the 
pupils  have  already  formed,  the  picture  as  a  whole 
cannot  enter  their  minds.  The  want  of  attention  to 
this  is  a  fruitful  source  of  failure.  Many  a  good 
lesson  in  promise  is  spoiled  because  care  was  not  taken 
to  ascertain  that  the  children  actually  possess  the  ideas 
attached  to  the  words  employed.  'Twas  but  the  other 
day  that  a  teacher  discovered,  at  the  close  of  a  lesson, 
that  a  very  animated  and  graphic  description  was  in- 
effective, because  he  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
ascertain  if  his  children  had  the  idea  of  a  plain,  before 
commencing  his  picture. 

Taking  care,  then,  that  nothing  is  introduced  into 
the  picture  of  which  the  children  have  not  a  distinct 
idea,  care  must  be  further  exercised  that  out  of  the 
materials  thus  presented  they  do  construct  the  picture 
intended.  This  will  always  be  the  more  difficult  as 
the  object  or  scene  differs  from  the  children's  ex- 
perience. The  further  removed  from  this,  the  greater 
the  difficulty  they  will  have,  and  the  greater  the 
graphic  power  required  in  the  teacher.  One  thing  to 
be  guarded  from  is  the  children  losing  themselves  in 
the  details:  they  will  fail,  unless  the  teacher  is  watch- 
ful, to  combine  the  parts  together.  It  is  a  mistake 
often  made,  that  because  children  see  clearly  each  part 
as  the  teacher  goes  on,  they  therefore  see  the  con- 
nection between  them,  and  grasp  the  whole.  Another 
point  to  be  secured  is  that  the  analogies  and  illus- 
trations employed  to  aid  the  children  to  form  a  picture 


254  SYSTEMS    OF    EDUCATION. 

of  the  whole,  are  drawn  from  the  surroundings  of  the 
children  rather  than  from  the  reading  of  the  teacher. 
In  the  latter  case  there  is  the  danger  of  supposing  that 
what  is  familiar  to  his  own  mind  will  he  equally  so  to 
the  minds  of  his  pupils.  When  illustrations  are  not 
drawn  from  the  sphere  of  common  life,  they  them- 
selves need  illustrating ;  and  analogies  not  so  formed 
are  riddles. 

The  importance  of  picturing  out  during  the  period 
of  child- life  to  which  it  is  applicable,  will  be  readily 
acknowledged  by  all  those  who  know  the  part  played 
by  the  imagination  in  the  process  of  mind-growth ;  and 
especially  in  child  happiness.  Picturing  fills  the  mind 
with  bright  images,  on  which  children  will  love  to 
linger,  long  after  drier  lessons  would  have  faded  away. 
These  pictures  should  be  drawn  from  the  whole  field  of 
natural  phenomena,  from  the  manners  and  customs  of 
other  lands,  and  from  the  records  of  the  past.  Special 
value  belongs  to  word  picturing  in  Bible  Lessons.  Here 
it  is  invaluable  in  giving  point,  purpose,  and  permanency 
to  incident  and  narrative,  that  would  otherwise  fail  to 
impress,  because  of  their  familiarity. 

"Picturing  out  "  was  intended  by  Stow  as  part  of  a 
larger  process,  having  for  its  object  the  discipline  of 
the  intellectual  faculties,  rather  than  the  communica- 
tion of  knowledge,  or  the  furnishing  the  mind  with 
ideas.  Not  undervaluing  the  latter,  and  knowing  well 
the  power  of  his  instrument  to  effectually  accomplish 
it,  yet  he  wanted  something  higher  for  the  scholar  than 
this  of  itself  could  supply.  He  desired  that  children 
should  go  forth  to  the  encounter  of  life  with  minds 
disciplined  by  right  modes  of  culture.  Mere  know- 


THE    TRAINING   SYSTEM.  255 

ledge  acquired  at  school  is  necessarily  scanty  and  frag- 
mentary, and  is  soon  lost  after  school  life  is  ended,  but 
the  discipline  accruing  from  the  action  of  right  methods 
remains  the  heritage  of  the  pupil,  and  the  means  of 
his  future  advancement.  The  method  he  proposed 
was  embodied  by  him  in  the  formula,  "  Not  to  tell  any- 
thing to  children,  which  by  a  proper  use  of  analogy 
and  illustration,  they  can  be  led  to  discover."  To  this 
method  he  applies  the  term  "  training,"  or  "  training 
out." 

This  term  we  deem  an  unfortunate  one.  It  seems 
to  imply  that  what  you  have  to  teach  is  already  in  the 
pupil's  mind,  and  that  you  have  but  skilfully  to  educe 
it.  Besides,  it  is  apt  to  be  confounded  with  the  term 
development,  as  applied  by  Pestalozzi  to  the  calling 
forth  by  appropriate  exercise  some  latent  faculty.  It 
is  a  faulty  term,  then,  because  it  does  not  exactly  des- 
cribe the  process  intended.  It  is  faxvlty,  also,  because 
the  same  term  is  applied  by  him  to  a  dissimilar,  though 
in  one  particular,  analogous  process.  It  is  in  this 
analogous  fact,  that  we  find  his  reason  for  using  the 
term.  Self-exertion  is  the  predominant  feature  in 
moral  training,  and  as  this  is  involved  in  "  not  telling," 
Stow  applies  the  same  term  to  both  processes.  By 
"  training,"  doubtless  he  meant  to  indicate  a  process  in 
which  the  pupil  was  to  discover  rather  than  to  receive, 
and  as  the  former  implies  more  energetic  doing  on  the 
part  of  the  child  than  the  latter,  he  thought  he  was 
warranted  in  applying  to  the  intellectual  what  had  been 
long  before  appropriately  applied  to  the  moral  process. 
It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  state  in  words  what  the 
method  is,  so  as  to  give  an  accurate  notion  of  it  to  those 


256  SYSTEMS    OF    EDUCATION. 

that  have  not  witnessed  it.  Its  principal  ideas  may  no 
doubt  be  clearly  set  forth,  but  though  these  may  be 
understood,  it  is  jjot  clear  that  the  method  itself  is. 
The  absurdities  that  have  passed  under  its  name, 
practised  even  by  those  who  had  had  the  advantage  of 
special  training,  sufficiently  show  this.  A  notice  of 
these,  with  a  few  slight  sketches  of  its  right  applica- 
tion, may  perhaps  convey  a  faint  notion  of  the  method. 

The  leading  ideas  involved  in  the  method  are,  that 
children  shall  from  facts  known  or  communicated  infer 
other  facts,  or  establish  for  themselves  the  principles 
underlying  the  facts  ;  and  that  in  doing  so,  they  shall 
receive  no  assistance  from  the  teacher  in  the  way  of 
suggestion.  It  is  his  business  to  supply  the  data  on 
which  their  minds  have  to  be  exercised,  and  to  employ 
analogies  to  indicate  the  course  to  be  pursued.  The 
method  may  have  been  suggested  by  that  of  Socrates — 
whose  was  a  method  in  which,  by  a  skilful  adaptation 
of  his  questions  to  the  previous  answers,  it  was  made 
to  appear  as  if  the  pupil  was  instructing  himself, 
rather  than  being  instructed. 

Among  the  absurdities  that  have  passed  under  the 
name  of  "  training  out,"  may  be  mentioned  the  notion 
that  has  run  away  with  some  people,  that  in  teaching 
nothing  is  to  be  told.  This  is  absurd.  Many  matters 
of  fact  must  bo  communicated.  To  attempt  otherwise 
is  a  waste  of  time,  if  not  attended  by  even  worse 
results.  The  art  of  the  teacher  is  shown  in  communi- 
cating what  is  indispensable  and  no  more,  and  in  com- 
municating it  as  material  out  of  which  the  pupils  are 
to  frame  their  own  ideas  and  thoughts  under  his 
guidance.  From  the  notion  that  nothing  is  to  be  told. 


THE   TBAINING    SYSTEM.  257 

or  from  an  entire  misapprehension  of  the  method,  some 
question  in  such  a  way  as  to  elicit  nothing  but  guesses, 
or  they  string  a  lot  of  questions  together  so  as  to  get 
out  what  they  want,  but  at  the  same  time  to  be  as  far 
as  possible  from  getting  it  by  legitimate  inference. 
This  fear  of  telling  anything  is  carried  sometimes  to  the 
ridiculous  length  of  not  telling  even  the  subject  of  the 
lesson.  That  is  to  be  got  at  by  a  succession  of  guesses. 
On  one  occasion  a  lesson  was  .introduced  by  a  question 
as  to  what  would  be  found  in  the  Great  Exhibition  ? 
After  expending  half-au-hour  in  fruitless  guesses,  in 
in  which  every  imaginable  thing  was  named,  one  lucky 
urchin  exclaimed,  "  a  button,"  when  the  class  was 
gravely  informed  "  Yes,  our  lesson  is  to  be  on  buttons." 
Another  mistake,  which  passes  under  the  name  of 
"  training  out  "  is,  that  it  is  the  getting  of  words  from 
the  class.  Sometimes  eliciting  words  is  a  valuable  pro- 
cess, especially  in  connection  with  reading,  as  it  serves 
to  bring  out  the  distinctions  between  nearly  synony- 
mous words,  and  besides  adding  to  the  learner's  stock 
of  words,  is  a  good  analytic  exercise,  but  the  doing  so 
is  not  necessarily  an  inferential  process.  Sometimes 
time  is  wasted  in  trying  for  a  word,  where  the  better 
plan  would  be  to  give  the  word  required.  For  instance, 
it  often  occurs  that  after  a  teacher  has  clearly  developed 
an  idea  in  his  pupils'  minds,  he  questions  them  for  the 
most  appropriate  expression,  not  seeing  that  this  really 
implies  that  the  idea  had  been  theirs  before.  But  sup- 
posing that  in  this  case,  by  some  happy  chance  the 
right  word  is  obtained,  still  the  process  was  not  one  of 
training,  inference,  or  induction.  Of  other  modes  of 
word  getting,  there  are  two  varieties.  Sometimes  a 

a 


258  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

teacher  wanting  a  word  puts  out  a  feeler  for  it.  His 
question  elicits  an  answer,  his  treatment  of  which  gives 
the  clue  to  his  class,  and  they  ransack  their  stores  for 
all  words  similar  in  sound  or  sense,  it  matters  not 
which,  until  they  put  their  hands  on  the  right  one. 
The  other  mode  is  of  so  ludicrous  a  nature  as  to  have 
attached  in  the  minds  of  many  teachers  the  utmost 
contempt  to  "  training  out,"  nothing  better  under  that 
name  having  been  under  their  notice.  We  refer  to  the 
not  uncommon  practice  of  getting  out  two  or  three 
words,  and  of  combining  them  to  get  the  word  sought. 
This,  instead  of  being  a  training  process,  is  a  sugges- 
tive one,  and  seldom  fails  to  involve  the  employer  of  it 
in  the  ridiculous.  One  or  two  actual  instances  may  be 
given  to  show  our  reference.  A  teacher  in  a  lesson  on 
the  cuticle,  for  which  he  wanted  from  the  class  the 
name  scarf-skin,  proceeded  to  get  it  by  asking  for  an 
article  sometimes  worn  round  the  neck,  and  after  some 
trouble  got  the  word  "  scarf;  "  then  pointing  to  the  skin 
obtained  the  word  skin.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  this  skin 
is  therefore  the  scarf-skin."  Another,  giving  a  lesson 
in  geography,  and  wanting  the  name  of  a  town  evi- 
dently unknown  to  his  class,  proceeded — What  are  the 
people  in  Wales  called  ?  Obtaining  his  answer,  and 
describing  a  hole  filled  with  water,  he  led  them  to  call 
it  a  pool — "  then  the  name  of  this  town  is —  WelshpooJ." 
Another,  giving  a  lesson  on  the  lever,  and  wanting  the 
term  fulcrum,  proceeded  thus-  -  "  When  your  mother 
pours  your  tea  into  the  cup  till  it  can  hold  no  more,  what 
do  you  say  the  cup  is?  "  Full.  "  And  when  she  has 
been  cutting  bread,  what  is  there  on  the  table  about 
the  loaf?  "  Crumbs.  "Then  this  is  the — fulcrum." 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  259 

Nothing  could  be  more  ridiculous,  as  specimens  of 
teaching,  than  the  foregoing,  yet  they  are  not  uncom- 
mon instances  of  what  are  deemed  training-out  pro- 
cesses. 

The  simplest  instance  of  the  right  application  of  the 
method  is  where  you  lead  to  the  discovery  of  facts  by 
the  way  of  inference  from  other  facts.  For  example, 
in  a  lesson  on  the  Rhine,  two  points  are  named,  its 
source  and  Basle,  and  giving  the  rapidity  of  the  stream 
the  children  infer  the  great  diiference  in  level,  or  giving 
the  difference  in  level  they  infer  the  rapidity  of  the 
stream.  A  lengthier  example  is  given  by  Stow  of  a 
teacher  leading  children  to  infer  that  in  Egypt  kilns 
were  not  used  in  making  bricks. 

A  higher  application  of  the  method  is  in  reading  or 
Scripture  lessons,  when  it  is  employed  to  discover  the 
meaning  of  the  writer.  Thus,  in  the  question  put  by 
Job,  "  How  oft  is  the  candle  of  the  wicked  put  out1?" 
After  showing  that  according  to  the  placing  of  the  em- 
phasis, and  by  the  tone  in  which  it  is  uttered,  it  is  sus- 
ceptible of  opposite  meanings,  the  question  comes  up, 
Which  is  the  true  one  ?  In  conducting  to  the  answer, 
reference  is  made  to  hot  countries,  to  dangers  from  ser- 
pents, to  the  fact  that  lights  are  used  to  scare  them 
away — then  Who  can  afford  to  keep  lights  always? 
The  rich.  Now,  suppose  a  house  always  lighted  at 
night  suddenly  ceases  to  be  lighted,  the  candle  is  put 
out.  What  is  the  inference  1  The  man  has  be- 
come poor.  Then  refer  to  the  scope  of  Job's  argu- 
ment. His  friends  had  maintained  that  afflictions  in 
this  life  are  signs  of  God's  displeasure ;  he  contends 
for  the  opposite,  and  asks — How  oft  is  the  caudle 


260  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

of  the  wicked  put  out?  The  children  are  then  ex- 
pected to  infer  the  truth  for  which  Job  was  con- 
tending. 

Another  application  of  the  method  requires  the 
highest  teaching  ability,  and  secures,  where  practised, 
the  best  mental  discipline.  It  is  sometimes  called 
the  historic  method,  or  when  applied  to  the  right 
class  of  subjects,  the  inductive  method.  It  consists 
in  conducting  the  pupils  through  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  thought,  by  which  a  certain  result  is 
reached;  or  in  taking  them  along  the  path  of  ob- 
servation, hypothesis,  and  experiments  by  which 
discoveries  have  been  made.  Thus  in  a  lesson  on 
the  Davy  lamp,  the  matter  was  so  treated,  that  the 
learners  suggested  the  doubts,  "hypotheses,  and  expe- 
riments through  which  it  might  .be  supposed  that 
the  inventor  himself  passed  ere  he  succeeded  in  his 
object.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  essence  of 
the  method  consists  not  in  laying  before  the  pupil  the 
processes  of  thought,  as  is  done  in  Euclid,  but  in  so 
skilfully  touching  the  intellect  with  questions  or 
facts,  that  he  may  discover  and  pursue  these  pro- 
cesses for  himself.  Than  this  no  other  method 
yields,  when  employed  at  the  proper  age,  such  valu- 
able results.  For  while  books  give  the  results  of 
others'  thinking,  this  leads  the  pupils  along  the  path 
by  which  such  results  were  obtained.  Suppose  a  boy 
acquainted  with  addition  and  multiplication,  to  sit 
down  without  the  aid  of  books  or  tutors,  to  discover 
for  himself  the  methods  and  rules  of  division.  Sup- 
pose him  after  much  thinking,  after  repeated  efforts 
and  repeated  failures,  to  hit  upon  them  and  to  be 


THE  TRAINING   SYSTEM.  261 

able  to  verify  each  of  his  conclusions — no  one  would 
deny  the  mental  discipline  of  such  a  process.  Well, 
suppose  the  same  done  under  the  stimulus  of  a 
teacher's  questioning,  and  under  the  correction  of  a 
teacher's  knowledge,  and  you  have  an  example  of 
"  training  out "  and  nearly  the  same  amount  of  mental 
discipline  as  in  the  first  supposition. 

Other  points  connected  with  intellectual  culture  in 
Stow's  system  are  those  of  oral  or  collective  lessons  in 
which  a  text-book  is  not  employed,  and  the  use  of 
ellipses  and  simultaneous  answers.  These  were  adopted 
from  the  infant  school,  partly  from  the  life  and  vigour 
which  their  right  use  excites  in  a  large  group  of  chil- 
dren, and  partly  because  they  allow  just  that  degree  of 
assistance  from  the  teacher  which  stimulates  but  does 
not  supersede  the  scholars'  efforts.  The  independent 
oral  lesson  was  advocated  on  other  and  higher  grounds, 
as  in  fact  the  only  one  which  gives  the  teacher  the 
opportunity  of  taking  his  pupils  through  processes  of 
discovery,  and  of  thought  leading  to  discovery,  and  as 
furnishing  the  only  occasion  in  which  the  higher  form 
of  training-out  can  be  employed.  These  were  exten- 
sively adopted,  even  where  Stow's  methods  were  not 
accepted,  but  there  has  come  lately  a  reaction,  which 
threatens — to  the  great  detriment  of  educational  pro- 
gress— to  banish  them  from  the  elementary  school. 

In  concluding  these  imperfect  notes  of  the  training 
system,  it  is  but  right  to  refer  to  the  great  services  ren- 
dered by  those  employed  in  the  Glasgow  Institution, 
both  in  working  out  the  system,  and  in  putting  some 
of  its  methods  into  a  practical  shape.  We  extract  on 
this  point  the  following  remarks  from  a  recent  article 


262  SYSTEMS    OF   EDUCATION. 

by  Mr.  William  Sugden,  who  was  himself  an  able  and 
energetic  worker  for  years  in  that  institution,  and  who 
has  conducted  with  singular  ability  and  success  a 
Normal  College  in  London  on  the  training  system  : — 
"  Like  most  men  who  have  been  eminent  in  carrying 
on  great  works,  Mr.  Stow  seems  to  have  been  skilful 
iii  selecting  and  attaching  to  himself  able  fellow- 
labourers  and  associates.  In  carrying  on  this  institu- 
tion at  Dundas  Vale,  he  was  aided  by  a  band  of 
teachers  of  noble  spirit  and  of  great  ability;  among 
whom  it  is  not  invidious  to  others  to  name  Mr.  Robeit 
Hislop,  at  that  time  its  rector,  and  Mr.  William 
Eraser,  now  the  minister  of  the  Free  Middle  Church 
in  Paisley.  No  one  could  be  more  ready  to  acknow- 
ledge the  assistance  derived  from  men  like  these  than 
was  Mr.  Stow." 


CHAPTER  V. 
AMATEURS  AND  HELPERS. 

THE  interest  now  so  general  in  the  cause  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  people,  is  a  growth  of  the  present  century. 
It  originated,  doubtless,  in  the  zealous  labours  of  Bell 
and  Lancaster,  Wilderspin  and  Stow,  and  was  greatly 
promoted  by  the  societies  which  were  formed  in  con- 
nection with  them.  But  it  was  the  condition  of 
the  people,  and  the  dangers  which  seemed  to  threaten 
the  very  existence  of  the  nation,  that  gave  it  an  impe- 
tus, and  made  it  grow  to  its  present  proportions.  Lead- 
ing statesmen  and  eminent  philanthropists  came  to 


AMATEURS  AND   HELPERS.  263 

regard  it  as  the  sole  means  of  securing  the  safety  and 
promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Educational 
societies  were  formed  in  many  parts  of  the  country  for 
the  purpose  of  gathering  statistics,  and  of  united  action. 
Public  meetings  were  held  for  discussion,  and  for  agi- 
tating the  question  of  educational  reform.  Committees 
of  Parliament  sat  to  gather  information,  and  at  length 
action  was  taken  by  the  legislature. 

Foremost  in  this  work  was  Brougham.  In  1816  he 
obtained  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  education.  Somewhat  later 
he  was  one  of  those  who  established  the  first  infants' 
school,  and  in  1824  he  formed  the  first  infants'  school 
society.  But  his  greatest  work  was  the  formation  of 
the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge.  He 
convened  the  first  meeting  in  1826.  Its  first  publi- 
cation was  in  1827.  It  was  incorporated  in  1832. 
This  Society  did  much  indirectly  to  promote  education. 
Amongst  many  invaluable  publications,  it  issued  the 
Journal  of  Education.  The  scope  of  this  serial  was 
to  bring  into  an  accessible  form  the  best  contribu- 
tions to  education  of  ancient  and  modern  writers,  to 
make  known  the  educational  systems  of  other  coun- 
tries, to  bring  into  prominence  all  efforts  that  were 
made  for  elementary,  industrial,  and  secondary  edu- 
cation, and  to  publish  articles  by  good  writers  on 
educational  topics.  In  1836,  a  selection  of  articles 
was  published  in  two  volumes,  with  the  title  of 
"  The  Schoolmaster." 

In  1836,  some  of  the  more  prominent  members 
formed  with  others  the  Central  Society  of  Education. 
The  object  of  this  society  was  to  take  measures  to 


264  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

place  education  on  a  scientific  basis,  to  establish 
training  schools  for  teachers,  to  make  education  com- 
pulsory, to  throw  its  support  upon  the  rates,  and  to 
have  it  under  the  direction  of  a  permanent  board 
and  a  minister  of  education,  who  should  be  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet.  It  also  proposed  to  supply  informa- 
tion on  the  existing  state  of  education,  on  the 
several  modes  of  teaching  the  poorer  classes,  on  the 
systems  of  education  extant,  and  generally  to  dis- 
cover the  means  by  which  all  classes  may  be  best 
fitted  in  health,  in  mind,  and  in  morals,  to  fill  the 
stations  they  are  destined  to  occupy  in  society. 

The  formation  of  the  society  was  the  occasion  for 
an  outburst  of  bigotry  and  invective.  It  was  de- 
nounced as  secular,  as  intending  to  put  out  the 
Bible  from  schools,  and  as  intending  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  establishment  of  Popery.  It  did  good 
service.  One  of  its  first  works  was  to  make  inquiry 
into  the  state  of  education.  It  did  this  very  thoroughly, 
but  not  without  opening  itself  to  the  charge  of  de- 
siring to  make  out  a  case  against  the  British  and 
National  schools,  than  to  ascertain  the  real  benefit 
conferred  by  them.  They  charge  these  schools  with 
having  nothing  in  them  that  deserves  the  name  of 
education ;  their  methods  as  having  a  tendency  to 
crush  the  mental  energies,  and  to  extinguish  all  moral 
life ;  and  their  public  examinations  as  a  gross  deception. 
Its  other  Avork  was  to  publish  a  series  of  volumes,  in 
which  educational  topics  were  discussed  ;  one  of  these 
consisting  of  prize  essays,  being  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able contributions  to  professional  literature  of  recent 
times.  The  growth  of  education  during  the  last  forty 


THOMAS  WYSE.  265 

years  owes  much  to  this  movement,  and  we  shall  mark 
its  character  by  some  brief  notices  of  its  more  promi- 
nent agents. 

Section   I. — Thomas  Wyse. 

Thomas  Wyse  took  an  active  part  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Irish  system.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
book  on  Educational  Reform,  in  which  he  sketched  a 
system  of  national  education.  He  had  a  large  ac- 
quaintance with  ancient  and  modern  education,  and  he 
was  the  advocate  of  principles  and  practices  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  age  he  addressed.  "  Education  should  fit 
each  citizen  for  the  duties  which  his  several  relations 
enforce  upon  him,  by  giving  to  the  physical,  intellect- 
ual, and  moral  faculties  the  full  perception  of  which 
they  are  susceptible.  That  such  education  may  be 
effectual  there  must  be  on  the  part  of  the  educator  a 
knowledge  of  mind  and  body.  In  physical  education 
it  is  conceded  that  a  knowledge  of  physiology  is  essen- 
tial ;  but  it  is  equally  true  in  that  of  mind.  Take  the 
very  lowest  point,  the  furnishing  of  the  mind ;  a  mind 
taught  at  random  without  a  knowledge  of  its  capaci- 
ties and  forces  is  a  lumber-room,  but  a  mind  educated 
is  a  well-ordered  storehouse.  To  think  of  working  on 
the  human  mind  without  a  knowledge  of  it  seems  an 
absurdity  so  glaring,  that  it  would  never  have  been  main- 
tained in  practice  if  the  real  object  of  school  work 
had  been  education.  The  science  of  mind,  at  least  such 
portions  as  bear  on  practice,  is  essential.  Without  it 
the  schoolmaster  may  blunder  into  right,  but  at  best 
he  is  but  an  empiric,  and  never  sure  that  he  is  not 
wrong." 


266  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

Education  must  be  moral,  and  in  order  to  that  it 
must  be  religious.  First  consider  the  relation  of 
moral  to  intellectual  education.  These  two  cannot  be 
separated.  Those  who  would  do  so  attempt  impossibi- 
lities. Half  of  our  being  cannot  be  torn  from  the 
other  half,  they  are  so  intertwisted.  It  is  also  difficult 
to  say  where  one  ends  and  the  other  begins.  Senti- 
ment and  reason  are  the  two  prime  movers  of  the  moral 
nature.  The  first  takes  precedence  in  early  education. 
Sentiment  is  the  foundation  of  all  morality  and  reli- 
gion. It  thus  becomes  possible  to  train  very  young 
children  morally  and  religiously.  The  feelings  which 
may  be  excited  in  a  child  towards  the  Author  of  all 
good,  differ  in  no  way  but  in  their  object  from  those 
with  which  a  parent  should  be  regarded.  It  is  thus  too 
that  He  is  first  made  known  to  the  child.  But  a  later 
stage  is  reached  when  conviction  is  required,  and  judg- 
ment comes  in  as  well  as  feeling.  Otherwise  the  child 
grows  into  a  mere  creature  of  chance  and  impulse, 
vacillation,  and  incoherence.  Thus  it  is  evident  that 
true  morality  requires  the  presence  of  intellectual  as 
well  as  of  moral  elements." 

Charged  with  secularism  by  those  who  opposed  his 
system  of  unsectarian  instruction,  he  is  anxious  that  no 
mistake  should  exist  as  to  the  real  nature  of  moral 
education.  There  can  be  no  moral  education  without 
religion  ;  and  no  religion  supplies  the  standard,  the 
precept,  and  the  motive  power,  but  the  Christian. 
This  introduces  the  question,  first  mooted  in  the  con- 
troversies of  the  time,  whether  the  Bible  should  be 
the  source  of  this  instruction  1  Wyse  is  clear  on  the 
chief  point.  "  The  Holy  Scriptures  alone,  in  their 


THOMAS  WYSE.  267 

speaking  and  vivifying  code,  teaching  by  deed,  and 
sealing  by  death,  give  that  law  of  truth,  of  justice, 
and  of  love,  which  has  been  the  thirst  and  hunger  of 
the  human  heart  in  every  vicissitude  of  its  history.  In 
all  stages  of  life  this  ought  to  be  the  book  of  books. 
But  everything  depends  on  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
taught.  It  is  not  enough  to  teach  the  Scriptures,  we 
must  remember  whom  we  are  to  teach,  and  by  what 
instruments  we  are  to  teach.  We  are  to  teach  children. 
We  are  to  teach  by  the  means  God  has  put  into  our 
hands.  These  means  are  human  intellects  and  human 
affections  ;  but  though  the  same  in  both,  they  are  not 
developed  to  the  same  extent  in  children  as  in  men. 
Therefore  there  must  be  adaptation  to  the  actual  con- 
dition. A  child  materializes  and  localizes ;  a  man 
spiritualizes  and  abstracts ;  hence  the  routes  to  the 
same  end  are  different.  The  ideas  of  every  one  are 
limited  by  his  experience,  a  child's  being  very  con- 
tracted. Yet  we  can  only  build  with  the  materials  we 
have  got.  To  comprehend  new  ideas  we  must  employ 
the  ideas  we  have.  Further,  a  child's  vocabulary  is 
even  more  circumscribed  than  its  ideas.  Yet  it  is 
only  through  words  that  spiritual  things  can  be  con- 
vex ed  to  its  mind.  Now  these  facts  must  govern 
the  teaching  of  Scripture  to  young  children.  Go  con- 
trary to  them  and  there  will  be  positive  and  enduring 
fevil.  Children  form  associations  with  marvellous  ra- 
pidity in  despite  of  their  teachers  and  in  despite  of 
themselves.  If  they  meet  obscurity  where  there 
should  be  light,  if  pain  where  there  should  be  plea- 
sure, the  associations  cling  and  the  Bible  remains 
a  closed  book,  when  free  to  choose  for  themselves. 


268  SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION. 

Meet  the  difficulty  by  following  the  law  of  God 
and  nature.  Scripture  must  be  taught,  but  so 
taught  as  to  be  understood.  Such  parts  then  as  can 
be  understood  are  to  be  given  to  children.  This 
implies  selection,  and  therefore  exclusion.  Selections 
first  should  be  placed  in  their  hands,  differing  according 
to  their  age  and  understanding ;  but  as  education 
proceeds,  the  Sacred  Volume  itself  may  be  intrusted  to 
their  study  and  inquiry.  In  the  selections  for  such  a 
course  of  Scripture  reading  two  rules  should  be  observed, 
they  should  be  adapted  to  the  capacity,  and  they  should 
be  accompanied  by  needful  explanation," 

Turning  to  the  cultivation  of  the  intellect,  Wyse 
lays  done  two  principles.  The  first  is  that  the  mate- 
rials of  intellectual  education  are  the  human  faculties  ; 
evidently  meaning  that  the  discipline  of  these  is  the 
object  to  be  sought,  rather  than  the  storing  of  the 
mind  with  learning.  Early  education  is  important, 
for  every  motion  of  mind  or  body  tends  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  habit,  and  of  habits  the  man  is  formed. 
Hence  the  importance  of  a  right  culture  of  the  senses. 
These  are  the  great  instruments  of  knowledge.  If  not 
cared  for  at  school,  when  wanted  they  will  be  found 
rusty  or  blunted.  Without  culture  all  is  haziness, 
with  it  vividness  and  freshness.  The  difference  is 
that  betwixt  a  waking  state  and  a  dream,  between 
reality  and  unreality.  Right  culture  of  the  senses 
tends  to  clearness  of  ideas,  accuracy  of  language,  and 
justice  of  reasoning.  He  is  also  of  opinion  that  each 
sense  has  its  organ  benefited  by  its  acquiring  greater 
delicacy  and  sensibility.  Education  from  the  very 
first  ought  to  be  general  All  the  powers  of  a  child 


THOMAS  WYSE.  269 

are  in  action  contemporaneously.  We  do  not  discover 
the  action  of  the  higher  powers  so  readily  because  the 
child  is  working  with  ideas  and  not  with  language, 
but  the  results  prove  that  the  processes  were  there. 
Of  course  there  is  order.  We  must  begin  with  the 
beginning.  We  live  before  we  think.  The  senses  are 
the  first  objects.  But  when  cultivating  the  mind 
through  these,  we  must  not  act  as  if  it  was  only 
recipient  or  perceptive.  It  is  impossible  thus  to  con- 
tract its  operations.  As  growth  proceeds  it  becomes 
still  more  necessary  to  keep  in  exercise  all  the  faculties, 
or  the  product  is  only  half  a  man.  Proportion  and 
symmetry  are  the  two  great  rules  in  education,  No 
single  chord  should  be  left  untouched  or  unstrung. 
Sounded  singly  there  is  monotony,  sounded  without 
order  it  is  discord ;  harmony  is  the  result  of  the 
scientific  culture  of  all. 

His  second  principle  is  that  the  instruments  of  in- 
tellectual culture  are  right  methods.  There  is  no 
method  adapted  to  all  stages  and  to  all  subjects.  That 
which  is  suitable  at  an  early  period  may  be  pernicious 
at  a  later.  Method  should  be  eclectic.  He  instances 
Pestalozzi  and  Fellenberg.  The  former  was  dominated 
by  an  idea,  and  when  in  a  region  where  it  was  inopera- 
tive he  egregiously  failed.  The  latter,  with  a  fuller 
conception  of  a  child's  nature  and  of  a  child's  needs, 
had  methods  adapted  to  all  stages  of  development,  and 
to  the  object  in  view. 

Much  of  his  book  is  devoted  by  Wyse  to  the  methods 
of  teaching  school  subjects,  and  contains  on  these  points 
meny  valuable  hints. 


270  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

Section  II. — Horace  Grant. 

Horace  Grant  was  another  amateur  whose  labours 
have  aided  educational  progress  His  friend  Chad- 
wick,  in  a  notice  prefixed  \o  a  recent  edition  of  his 
books,  classes  him  with  Comenius,  Pestalozzi,  and  others 
who  have  devoted  themselves  zealously  to  the  especial 
study  of  the  minds  of  children,  and  to  the  best  means 
of  cultivating  them.  Having  been  obliged  by  failing 
health  to  resign  the  East  India  Company's  service,  he 
devoted  himself  to  education.  He  found  grievous 
defects  in  the  construction  of  schoolbooks  and  in 
methods  of  teaching.  The  chief  fault  of  the  former 
was,  that  they  were  calculated  to  display  the  knowledge 
of  the  writers  than  to  interest  the  children.  The 
chief  faults  of  the  latter,  that  they  imparted  matters 
by  rote,  and  were  utterly  unfitted  to  develop  and 
discipline  the  mind.  He  framed  lessons  and  wrote 
them  out  on  this  principle,  that  each  lesson  was  by 
its  own  intrinsic  interest  to  sustain  the  attention  of 
the  learner.  He  borrowed  children  for  the  purpose 
of  his  trials  and  observations,  and  he  circulated  in 
manuscripts  the  lessons  he  had  tried  amongst  intelli- 
gent and  practised  teachers,  and  obtained  the  results 
of  their  experience.  He  embodied  the  results  of  his 
observations  and  experiments  in  a  series  of  volumes 
first  published  by  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of 
Useful  Knowledge,  and  recently  issued  afresh  by 
Bell  and  Daldy.  They  include  exercises  for  the 
senses,  two  treatises  on  arithmetic,  and  others  on 
geography,  drawing,  and  elementary  geometry. 

Grant  brought  to  his  adopted  work  valuable  qualifi- 


HORACE   GRANT.  271 

cations,  the  most  important  of  which  was  his  know- 
ledge of  mental  science,  and  especially  of  mind  as  it 
develops  itself  in  young  children.  He  himself  held 
this  to  be  an  essential  thing  for  one  who  would  success- 
fully educate.  Mr.  Chadwick  gives  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  a  letter : — "  A  gentleman  would  scarcely 
presume  to  break  in  a  colt  or  a  pointer  puppy,  without 
first  ascertaining  the  precise  object  to  be  obtained,  and 
studying  the  character,  habits,  and  organization  of  the 
animal,  and  the  fitting  mode  of  acting  upon  it.  Yet 
surely  a  common  child  is  as  difficult  to  be  understood 
as  a  pointer  puppy."  "  You  cannot  act  upon  children 
unless  you  understand  them,  and  you  cannot  under- 
stand them  without  studying  them  attentively,  having 
first  discarded  all  previous  notions  gathered  from  the 
cloister  or  the  desk.  It  will  not  do  for  gentlemen  to 
retire  to  their  study,  like  German  metaphysicians,  and 
extract  from  their  inmost  consciousness  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary for  understanding  and  instructing  their  juvenile 
fellow  creatures.  As  teachers  of  children,  it  appears 
to  me,  that  your  masters  have  everything  to  learn  ; 
that  they  have  no  suspicion  of  this,  and  that  unless 
they  will  first  condescend  to  go  among  children  as 
learners  and  students,  their  zeal  and  industry  as 
teachers  will  be  of  little  avail." 

His  study  of  children  made  him  in  favour  of  short 
lessons.  "  There  is  a  variety  of  temperament  and  a 
difference  of  capacity  arising  therefrom,  which  shows 
itself  in  the  degree  and  duration  of  attention.  Very 
young  children  cannot  give  attention  longer  than  a  few 
minutes  ;  the  power  increases  with  training  and  growth, 
but  even  with  other  children  lessons  requiring  mental 


272  '     SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION. 

effort  should  rarely  exceed  half-an-hour."  The  re- 
medy is  in  change  of  work.  For  though  it  is  a  law  of 
their  nature  that  they  cannot  he  engaged  on  one  thing 
long,  it  is  equally  true  that  they  cannot  remain  idle. 
"  They  make  innumerable  short  essays  in  all  directions, 
by  which  inind  and  body  are  trained.  Keep  them  al- 
ways at  one  kind  of  bodily  labour,  and  they  become 
deformed  and  stunted,  and  attain  not  the  proportions 
and  powers  of  the  perfect  animal.  Train  one,  or  but  a 
few  of  their  faculties,  and  they  are  ever  afterwards  dwarfs 
in  intellect,  or  at  best  ill- proportioned  spirits.  Train 
their  moral  faculties  in  the  same  injudicious  manner, 
starve  many,  over  excite  a  few,  and  you  produce 
immoral  or  morally  diseased  beings." 

Children  must  be  employed.  A  healthy  child  at 
liberty  to  do  what  he  likes  goes  through  great  bodily 
and  mental  exercise.  "  There  are  innumerable  objects 
observed,  inquired  into,  and  experimented  on ;  endless 
reasonings,  imaginings,  inventions ;  and  there  are 
worlds  of  fancy  into  which  his  old  materials  are  con- 
stantly being  marshalled.  Yet  all  this  hard  work  is 
pleasure  to  the  child, — it  is  play  ;  but  such  play  makes 
men."  "  Overwork  is  most  pernicious  ;  but  one  thing 
is  worse :  forcibly  to  restrain  him  from  that  active  em- 
ployment which  his  constitution  craves;  thus  imprison- 
ing mind  and  body.  Children  rarely  suffer  from  over- 
work, but  often  from  improper  work,  the  smallest 
quantity  of  which  is  pernicious."  Anything  which 
strains  the  attention,  as  rote  work  of  every  kind,  with- 
out employing  the  faculties,  does  mischief. 

Not  many  but  much  is  a  good  rule  in  teaching. 
"Where  many  things  are  attempted,  there  must  be 


HORACE  GRANT.  273 

brevity,  and  consequently,  poverty.  "Half-a-dozen 
simple  points  investigated  and  discovered  by  the  pupil, 
will  be  of  more  value  than  a  book-full  of  geometry, 
to  which  he  merely  gives  a  cold  assent.  In  the  one 
case,  the  knowledge  forms  part  of  the  mind;  it  is 
remembered,  is  ever  present  when  wanted,  and  is 
ready  to  be  connected  with,  and  to  aid,  other  know 
ledge  ;  it  assists  in  building  up  an  intellect  as  well  as 
furnishing  it.  In  the  common  mode,  however  fre- 
quently a  thing  is  gone  over,  it  forms  no  part  of  the 
mind  :  it  is  joined  with  nothing  useful  or  experi- 
mental ;  it  is  kept  at  an  out-station  apart  from  our 
trains  of  thought,  and  it  can  have  little  influence  on 
the  intellect  or  character." 

The  right  starting-point  is  with  the  senses,  and  in 
all  subjects  the  natural  development  of  the  mind  sug- 
gests that  the  concrete  shall  precede  the  abstract,  the 
near  shall  be  taken  before  the  remote,  and  the  particu- 
lar shall  be  given  before  the  general.  It  is  also  neces- 
sary that  the  illustrations  and  experiments  shall  be 
interesting,  for  the  great  purpose  is  that  the  child  shall 
find  pleasure  in  its  work.  His  careful  study  of  children 
led  him  to  observe  that  certain  subjects  are  more  suit- 
able than  others  for  the  development  and  discipline 
he  sought.  Thus  observing  the  vast  amount  of  time 
and  labour  spent  by  every  child  in  the  first  ten  years 
of  its  life  in  investigating  the  forms  and  qualities  of 
things,  and  noting  the  influence  of  the  former  in  giving 
the  child  the  power  of  analysis,  of  distinguishing  things, 
and  of  forming  clear  ideas,  he  gives  a  prominent  place 
to  form  in  early  culture.  He  also  attaches  great  im- 
portance to  arithmetic,  when  it  is  so  taught  as  to  be 
T 


274  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

a  matter  of  investigation  to  the  children,  as  well  as  of 
reasoning  based  on  operations  presented  to  his  senses. 
His  two  works  on  arithmetic  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  every  teacher ;  they  are  invaluable  contributions  to 
right  methods  of  instruction. 

The  following  remarks  from  the  Saturday  Review 
set  forth  distinct!}  the  principles  of  Grant's  books  on 
arithmetic.  "  The  main  principles  upon  which  instruc- 
tion in  arithmetic  to  young  minds  is  founded  are 
simple  and  sensible.  The  first  is  that  children  should 
learn  to  realize  the  meaning  of  arithmetic  by  concrete 
symbols.  They  should  not  only  know  but  see,  that 
two  and  two  make  four.  The  number  nine  should  not 
only  be  thought  of  as  produced  by  the  addition  of  a 
unit  to  eight,  but  should  spontaneously  call  up  a  vision 
of  nine  spots  arranged  in  various  diagrams  which  show 
its  identity  with  sets  of  five  and  four  spots,  or  with  three 
sets  of  three  spots.  The  mere  blank  expression  is  thus 
translated  into  a  sensible  reality,  and  is  much  more 
easily  dealt  with  by  the  childish  understanding.  And, 
secondly,  the  child  should  be  made  to  understand  the 
more  difficult  rules  by  a  process  resembling  that  which 
must  have  led  to  their  first  discovery.  Instead  of 
having  a  magical  formula  stamped  upon  his  memory, 
the  application  of  which  will,  for  some  mysterious 
reason,  bring  out  the  desired  result,  his  infant  powers 
should  be  gradually  stimulated  until  the  rule  presents 
itself  to  him  as  the  summary  and  complete  expression 
of  his  crude  anticipation. 

"  The  old  method  was  the  reverse  of  this.  It  gave 
the  logical  instead  of  the  natural  order.  The  abstract 
conceptions  which  had  been  slowly  reached  by  the 


SHUTTLEWORTFI.  275 

mature  intellect  were  impressed  upon  the  childish 
mind,  and  the  rules  founded  upon  them  explained  in 
the  most  abstract  language.  Instead  of  developing  the 
principles  latent  in  the  childish  mind,  a  complete  and 
ready-made  system  was  thrust  in,  and  frequently 
remained  as  a  mere  set  of  rules  obstinately  refusing 
to  assimilate  with  previous  acquisitions.  But  it  is 
true  of  the  matter  with  which  arithmetic  deals,  that  a 
vivid  realization  through  the  senses  of  its  first  truths 
is  the  best  mode  of  approaching  its  difficulties.  This 
study,  like  all  others,  has  really  its  base  in  outward 
fact,  and  it  must,  like  all  others,  be  attained  through 
the  medium  of  sensible  experience."  The  result  will 
come  the  sooner,  if  every  operation  is  given  as  a  problem 
to  be  solved,  and  not  as  an  example  to  which  a  rule  is 
to  be  applied ;  and  if  the  work  given  exemplifies  in 
every  new  question  a  distinct  principle  or  rule  from 
that  in  the  operation  just  completed. 

S&tion  Ill.—SJiuttlew&rth. 

Till  within  the  last  forty  years  primary  education  in 
England  was  left  in  the  hands  of  individuals  and 
societies.  The  prevailing  destitution  was  however  too 
widespread  to  be  met  by  voluntary  associations,  and  it 
consequently  became  necessary  that  the  State  should 
take  some  share  in  the  education  of  the  people.  So 
early  as  1807  Whitbread  made  an  ineffectual  attempt 
to  move  the  House  of  Commons  to  take  up  this  duty. 
Brougham,  more  fortunate,  obtained  the  appointment 
of  committees  of  inquiry.  Many  others  were  engaged 
in  efforts  to  awaken  and  inform  the  public  mind, 


276  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

through  the  press  and  on  the  platform,  until  at  length 
the  duty  of  the  State  to  aid  in  the  education  of  the 
people  was  owned  in  1833  by  parliamentary  grants  dis- 
tributed by  the  Treasury.  The  obligation  having  been 
once  admitted  the  necessity  of  further  aid  was  soon 
apparent.  In  1838  evidence  was  laid  before  a  Par- 
liamentary Committee  that  was  quite  appalling,  and 
especially  the  statement  by  prison  authorities  : — "  That 
the  leading  characteristic  of  the  vast  majority  of  those 
unhappy  beings  who  came  under  their  charge  was  a 
heathenish  ignorance  of  the  simplest  principles  of  mo- 
rality and  religion."  The  conscience  of  the  best  part  of 
the  nation  was  grieved  that  such  a  vast  amount  of  misery 
should  arise  from  its  own  neglect.  It  found  expression 
in  the  increase  of  the  Parliamentary  grant,  and  in  the 
appointment  on  the  10th  April,  1839,  by  an  Order  of 
Council  of  a  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  to  ad- 
minister it.  Of  this  Committee  Sir  J.  P.  K.  Shuttle- 
worth  was  the  first  secretary.  Under  his  auspices  were 
inaugurated  a  number  of  measures  that  have  done  more 
to  place  education  on  a  satisfactory  footing  than  all 
previous  measures.  Though  it  is  perfectly  true  here  as 
in  physical  science,  that  the  labour  of  the  present  worker 
would  have  been  impossible  had  it  not  been  preceded 
and  prepared  for  by  those  who  have  gone  before. 
Amongst  the  measures  of  importance  set  on  foot  soon 
after  his  accession  to  office  were  the  appointment  of 
inspectors  of  schools,  grants  towards  the  erection  and 
fittings  of  school  buildings,  provision  for  the  training 
of  teachers,  and  aid  towards  the  maintenance  of  schools, 
by  payments  of  the  stipends  of  pupil-teachers,  by 
gratuities  to  their  teachers  for  instructing  them,  and  by 


SHUTTLK  WORTH.  277 

certificates  to  teachers,  with  a  money  value,  the  amount 
being  determined  by  the  grade  of  the  certificate,  and 
made  dependent  on  the  report  of  the  inspector.  Sub- 
sequently, aftu  Shuttleworth  had  retired  from  the 
secretaryship;  the  modes  of  aid  and  the  regulations 
respecting  school  were  so  frequently  changed,  that 
teachers  were  in  a  state  of  constant  alarm,  not  knowing 
what  a  "  Minute  "  might  bring  forth. 

Amongst  the  services  rendered  by  Shuttleworth  was 
the  drawing  up  of  instructions  on  method  in  the  form 
of  minutes.  His  first  minute  describes  a  form  of 
school  organization  which  he  introduced  into  the 
practising  school  at  Battersea.  It  was  an  attempt  to 
combine  the  advantages  of  Stow's  system  and  that  of 
monitorial  schools.  Four  groups  of  paralled  desks 
were  so  arranged  that  two  contiguous  classes  could  be 
formed  into  a  division  for  a  collective  lesson  by  the 
master,  while  the  other  classes  were  worked  by  pupil- 
teachers.  He  called  this  the  mixed  mode,  but  it  came 
to  be  better  known  as  the  Battersea  Method.  Other 
minutes  dealt  with  methods  of  teaching.  A  tour 
through  Europe,  to  acquaint  himself  with  principles 
and  methods  of  teaching,  had  imbued  him  thoroughly 
with  a  preference  for  synthetic  methods.  He  bases 
his  preference  on  what  he  supposed  was  nature's  mode 
of  educating  the  child.  "  During  infancy  the  child  has 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  external  world ;  his 
senses  are  in  incessant  activity ;  the  sense  of  sight  has 
to  be  placed  in  harmony  with  the  sense  of  touch  and 
of  muscular  movement;  the  distance,  form,  weight, 
and  other  qualities  of  objects  have  to  be  determined ; 
the  child  is  making  continual  discoveries ;  it  constantly 


278  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

presses  upon  the  region  of  the  unknown.  This  process 
is  chiefly  synthetical.  It  is  "by  the  acquisition  of  new 
facts,  and  their  combination  with  those  already  known, 
that  the  child  gradually  acquires  knowledge,  and  cor- 
rects the  errors  into  which  he  has  fallen.  In  the  ac- 
quisition of  language  he  is  greatly  aided  by  his  faculty 
of  imitation.  In  the  use  of  this  faculty  he  proceeds 
in  two  separate  directions.  In  the  imitation  of  sounds 
he  first  tries  those  which  are  shortest  and  simplest,  and 
gradually  acquires  the  more  complex.  A  similar  law 
determines  his  progress  in  all  that  relates  to  the  struc- 
ture of  sentences.  He  acquires  the  names  of  objects 
with  which  he  is  familiar,  and  first  of  those  which  in- 
terest his  aifections.  Then  he  learns  to  name  the  qua- 
lities of  those  objects.  Their  motions,  actions,  and 
influence  on  other  bodies  follow ;  and  in  these  and 
every  other  part  of  his  acquirements  the  simple  pre- 
cedes the  complex.  By  this  constructive  process  all  his 
early  acquirements  are  made."  Now  it  is  obvious  in 
these  cases  the  infant  mind  had  gone  through  a  process 
of  analysis  before  entering  on  the  constructive  stage, 
and  every  practical  teacher  knows  that  the  success  of 
educational  efforts  depends  on  the  proper  combination 
of  both  analytic  and  synthetic  methods. 

The  application  of  a  synthetic  method  to  reading  he 
endeavoured  to  secure,  by  obtaining  the  services  of  two 
foreigners,  one  to  analyse  the  English  language  into  its 
elementary  sounds,  the  other  to  arrange  in  a  couple  of 
books  the  characteristic  words  of  the  language,  in  a 
series,  which  would  admit  of  the  Phonic  Method. 
This  compliment  to  Englishmen  was  made  with  full 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  Phonic  Method  was 


SHUTTLEWORTH.  279 

first  applied  by  Edgeworth.  In  favour  of  the  Phonic 
Method  he  observes,  "  It  recognises  in  the  child  a 
being  whose  reasoning  powers  are  immature,  yet  a  ra- 
tional creature,  whose  memory  maybe  most  successfully 
cultivated  when  employed  in  subordination  to  the  rea- 
soning faculty.  It  depends  to  a  large  extent  for  its 
success  on  the  truth  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  remem- 
ber contradictory  facts  (or  those  which  seem  so)  than 
classes  of  consistent  facts  which  express  a  rule  or  law 
satisfactory  to  the  reason.  In  the  former  case,  each 
fact  has  to  be  separately  remembered,  and  the  memory 
is  therefore  vexed  with  numerous  independent  efforts. 
In  the  latter,  the  pupil  remembers  classes  of  facts 
associated  by  some  law  more  readily  than  he  remembers 
the  individual  facts  when  presented  to  his  mind  with- 
out any  attempt  at  arrangement.  In  the  former  case, 
the  facts  appear  to  be  not  merely  separate,  but  contra- 
dictory ;  and  in  proportion  as  they  are  irreconcilable 
with  any  effort  of  the  reason  will  they  be  difficult  to 
remember.  On  the  contrary,  to  show  to  a  rational 
creature  the  mutual  relations  and  dependences  of  facts 
presented  to  its  intelligence,  is  to  afford  the  greatest 
assistance  to  the  memory,  by  enabling  it  to  associate 
those  facts  in  consistent  groups,  under  comparatively  a 
small  number  of  laws.  For  a  child  to  commit  to  me- 
mory that  which  it  cannot  understand  is  a  difficult  and 
by  no  means  salutary  exercise  of  the  intelligence  ;  but 
to  conduct  the  instruction  of  a  child,  not  only  without 
any  attempt  to  cultivate  its  understanding,  but  to  re- 
quire it  to  charge  its  memory  with  facts  which,  be- 
cause contradictory,  must  be  repulsive  to  its  reasoning 
powers,  is  worse  than  useless.  By  such  means  a  child 


280  SYSTEMS  OF   EDUCATION. 

at  an  early  period  separates  all  ideas  of  pleasure  from 
instruction.  The  tyranny  of  schools  commences  when 
any  unreasonable  effort  is  required.  In  this  way,  like- 
wise, is  repressed  that  earnestness  which  characterizes 
the  early  efforts  of  childhood.  Its  generous  spirit  can 
only  be  cherished  by  leading  it  from  one  truth  to 
another,  and  not  from  one  contradiction  to  another.  It 
is  hurtful  to  the  moral  sense  to  commence  the  instruc- 
tion of  children  by  requiring  them  to  commit  to  me- 
mory what  they  do  not  understand,  or  what  is  contra- 
dictory, and  therefore  revolting  to  their  understandings. 
The  moral  sense  can  only  be  successfully  cultivated  by 
inspiring  the  child  in  every  process  of  education  with 
a  love  of  truth. 

"  The  first  step  to  this  result  is  to  satisfy  the  intelli- 
gence on  every  point  which  can  be  rendered  clear. 
The  means  to  this  end  are  the  arrangement  of  the  facts 
presented  to  the  mind  of  the  child  in  such  order  that 
each  new  truth  may  naturally  succeed,  and  be  sup- 
ported by  those  which  have  preceded  it,  so  that  the 
child  may  require  neither  any  great  effort  of  the  intel- 
ligence to  comprehend,  or  believe,  or  remember,  that 
which  it  is  the  object  of  the  master  to  teach." 

Now  all  this  is  excellent,  but  it  is  irrelevant.  It 
has  force  against  the  method  of  teaching  to  read  by 
teaching  to  spell  with  the  names  of  the  letters,  but  it 
does  not  support  the  phonic  method.  It  is  rather  true 
of  a  synthetic  arrangement  of  reading  and  other 
lessons  than  of  the  method  to  be  used  in  each  lesson. 
Here  he  is  decidedly  wrong  in  maintaining  that  analytic 
methods  should  be  reserved  till  a  very  late  stage  in 
the  child's  progress ;  and  only  synthetic  ones  employed 


SHUTTLEWORTH.  281. 

in  the  earlier,  for  following  the  rule  he  himself  lays 
down,  of  following  nature,  every  teacher  must  employ 
both  analytic  and  synthetic  methods. 

"  In  observing  the  process  which  nature  pursues  in 
developing  the  intelligence,  we  see  the  senses  of  the 
infant  first  in  activity  ;  they  are  employed  in  collecting 
facts ;  the  mind  then  gradually  puts  forth  its  power, 
it  compares,  combines,  and  at  length  analyzes  the  facts 
presented  to  it.  Thus  the  child  raises  his  attention 
above  material  objects.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
differences  which  mark  these  successive  periods  of 
intellectual  progress,  the  method  of  education  which, 
suits  them  is  always  the  same.  From  the  most 
elementary  knowledge  to  the  highest  speculations  one 
method  is  universally  applicable.  This  consists,  first, 
in  carefully  examining  the  constituent  parts  of  any 
object  before  us,  i.e.,  in  analyzing  it;  secondly,  in 
classifying  and  separately  considering  these  component 
parts.  This  is  the  work  of  the  teacher  in  elementary 
schools;  thirdly,  in  reconstructing  the  object  which 
has  thus  been  decomposed  by  the  analysis  of  the 
educator,  i.  <?.,  in  operating  by  synthesis.  This  is  the 
work  of  the  pupil,  by  which  he  is  prepared  for  the 
more  difficult  work  of  analysis.  When  his  mental 
powers  are  exercised  in  this  way  the  attention  is 
actively  engaged."  Holding  these  opinions  he  had 
prepared  besides  reading-books,  manuals,  and  tablets 
for  the  promotion  of  writing  and  vocal  music,  the 
former  on  the  method  of  Mulhauser,  the  latter  by 
Hullah. 

Other  services  were  rendered  by  Shuttleworth  to  the 
cause  of  elementary  education.  He  was  the  founder  of 


282  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

Battersea  Training  College,  and  this  institution  retained 
for  many  years  the  impress  of  his  mind.  That  the 
system  he  tried  to  establish,  taken  from  Switzerland, 
was  ultimately  abandoned,  arose  from  its  being  not 
suited  to  English  habits  and  circumstances.  His  able 
coadjutors  at  ! Battersea  were  Tate  and  Maclecd,  men  to 
whom  English  education  is  so  much  indebted.  To 
Shuttleworth  was  due  the  system  of  school  inspection, 
for  which  he  drew  out  an  elaborate  scheme,  a  scheme 
that  has  not  been  improved  by  the  departures  there- 
from. 

Section  IV. — Inspectors. 

The  earlier  reports  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  of 
schools  contained  many  valuable  contributions  to 
common  school  education.  It  was  the  practice  to 
scatter  these  reports  broadcast  over  the  land.  Many 
a  teacher  labouring  in  a  remote  district  found  himself 
encouraged  and  stimulated  by  what  he  found  in  them. 
Many  a  teacher  had  his  mind  first  awakened  to  the 
importance  of  his  work,  and  himself  set  on  the  right 
track,  by  the  earnest  spirit  which  breathed  through  the 
writings  of  Moseley,  Fletcher,  and  others.  To  these 
early  volumes,  coming  into  his  hands  just  as  he  was 
beginning  his  work,  many  a  young  teacher  was  indebted 
for  many  valuable  hints,  and  for  many  important  prin- 
ciples. Here  he  first  learned  the  real  nature  of  his 
work,  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  should  be  conducted  ; 
and  from  them  he  obtained  invaluable  plans  for  its 
accomplishment.  It  was  a  pity  that  the  low  estimate 
of  the  work  of  the  school,  and  the  false  parsimony 
which  attended  it,  ushered  in  by  the  Revised  Code,  led 


INSPECTORS.  283 

to  alterations  in  the  reports   themselves,  and  to  the 
stoppage  of  their  gratuitous  circulation. 

The  reports  of  Professor  Moseley  cover  a  period  of 
eleven  years,  and  touch,  amongst  many  other  topics, 
some  of  the  most  important  in  elementary  instruction. 
On  religious  instruction  he  observes,  "  I  see  the 
desire  to  implant  principles  of  sound  doctrine,  and  to 
furnish  the  memory  with  Scriptural  truths, —  all,  in 
short,  eifected  that  may  be  learned  as  a  lesson  and  en- 
forced as  a  task, — but  little,  I  fear,  that  appeals  to  those 
sensibilities  which  are  the  springs  of  action  in  child- 
hood, and  the  elements  out  of  which  the  Christian 
character  collects  itself  in  youth  and  manhood.  The 
way  to  the  hearts  of  children  is  easy  to  those  who  seek 
it ;  and  I  know  not  why  the  schoolmaster,  who  can 
call  to  his  aid  that  power  which  is  given  him  over 
the  affections  by  the  sympathy  of  numbers,  should 
pass  it  by  in  the  matter  of  their  religious  teaching, 
seeking  rather  to  store  their  memories  with  the  language 
of  Scripture  hereafter  to  be  applied — if,  indeed, 
religion  ever  becomes  to  them  a  matter  of  personal  ap- 
plication,— or  exercise  their  judgment  with  questions  of 
controverted  doctrine,  in  anticipation  of  a  period  when 
they  may  be  called  upon  to  defend  it."  "  Religious  truth 
should  be  presented  to  children  so  as  to  awaken  the 
sensibilities  and  arouse  the  conscience,  for  they  act  not 
from  what  they  know,  but  from  what  they  feel  Their 
characters  are  forming  themselves  not  upon  principles, 
but  upon  feelings,  reiterated  until  they  become  habits 
of  feeling  and  laws  of  action.  Religion  is  best  pre- 
sented to  the  mind  of  a  child  under  the  form  of  a 
principle  of  action.  Appeals  of  Scriptural  truth  find 


284  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

their  way  most  readily  to  the  heart  when  supported  by 
admonitions  of  conscience."  "  We  are  too  much  accus- 
tomed to  confound  our  notion  of  a  religious  education 
with  that  of  religious  instruction,  and  not  to  consider 
that  a  place  should  be  sought  for  religion  in  the 
heart  and  affections  of  children,  as  well  as  in  their 
memories  and  understanding."  "  It  is  often  difficult  to 
know  how  religious  principles  are  to  be  applied  under 
certain  practical  conditions,  and  this  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  application  of  them.  As,  then,  in  secular,  so  in 
religious  education,  the  science  of  application  is  of 
grsat  importance.  Our  elementary  schools  should  in 
this  respect  be  schools  of  application, — of  application 
by  precept  and  by  example  ;  application  so  simple  as 
to  include  the  experiences  of  the  child,  but  based  upon 
principles  which  involve  the  destinies,  for  time  and 
for  eternity,  of  the  man.  The  example  of  a  school  life 
controlled  by  Christian  principles — of  the  mind  that 
was  in  Christ,  is  a  result  which  the  faithful  teacher 
will  not  fail  to  pray  for,  and  which  by  God's  blessing  he 
may  hope  in  some  measure  to  attain  to." 

On  discipline  and  moral  training  the  following 
remarks  are  especially  valuable  : — "  I  have  often  been 
struck,  in  intercourse  with  teachers,  with  what  appeared 
to  me  a  want  of  faith  in  education.  They  have  seemed 
to  me  not  to  have  that  confidence  in  the  resources 
of  it  which,  on  the  authority  of  Scripture  and  of 
reason,  we  are  justified  in  having.  We  know  that  if 
we  could  but '  train  up  children  in  the  way  they  should 
go,  when  they  are  old  they  would  not  depart  from  it ; ' 
and  every  day's  experience  tells  us  that  men  and  women 
are  very  much  what  they  were  trained  up  to  be  as 


INSPECTORS.  285 

children.  Yet  very  little  attention  is  given  to  the 
training  of  children  in  schools.  I  believe  the  root  of 
this  lies  in  a  want  of  faith  in  the  power  of  the  school 
to  do  anything  for  the  training  of  the  child,  but  only 
for  its  teaching.  Yet  the  child  is  for  six  hours  a  day 
in  the  presence  of  the  teacher,  looking  up  to  him  for 
everything,  at  that  period  of  its  life  when  it  is  most 
open  to  the  influence  of  example,  when  habits  of 
thought  for  good  or  for  evil  are  most  readily  formed, 
and  when  the  heart  and  affections  lie  near  the  surface. 
It  is,  too,  a  great  resource  to  the  teacher  to  minister 
to  the  understanding  of  the  child  its  daily  food,  to 
have  the  first  tottering  steps  of  its  mind  stayed  upon 
his,  to  have  the  will  of  the  child  absorbed  into  his  ; 
and,  if  he  be  a  skilful  teacher,  to  command  the  public 
opinion  of  his  school ;  and  all  this  at  that  age  when 
thus  to  be  fed  with  the  first  elements  of  knowledge, 
thus  to  be  supported  in  the  first  uncertain  steps  of  the 
understanding,  thus  to  yield  to  authority,  is  natural." 
The  schoolmaster  possesses  vast  power  for  training  the 
children  of  his  school,  and  he  is  always  for  good  or 
evil  unconsciously  exercising  it. "  "  As  I  go  from  school 
to  school  I  perceive  in  each  a  distinctive  character, 
which  is  that  of  the  master ;  I  look  at  the  school  and 
at  the  man,  and  there  is  no  mistaking  the  resemblance. 
His  idiosyncrasy  has  passed  upon  it.  I  seem  to  see 
him  reflected  in  the  children  as  in  so  many  fragments 
of  a  broken  mirror.  What  importance  this  gives  to 
the  character  of  the  teacher,  and  to  his  religious  and 
moral  training  !  It  is  not  one  of  the  least  difficulties 
of  his  work  that  the  children  in  whose  presence  he 
lives,  and  who  will  form  themselves  on  his  model,  have 


286  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

a  singular  instinct  in  comprehending  their  teachers, 
piercing  them  with  their  little  eyes  through  and 
through." 

"  Discipline  in  too  many  schools  is  maintained  by 
the  aid  of  corporal  punishment.  In  some  its  infliction 
is  limited  to  offences  partaking  of  the  nature  of  moral 
delinquency.  In  the  great  majority  the  punishment  is 
awarded  irrespectively  of  the  nature  of  the  offence." 

He  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  efficiency  of  a 
school,  judged  either  as  a  place  of  moral  training  or  of 
secular  instruction,  is  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  corporal  punishment  inflicted  in  it;  and 
for  this  obvious  reason.,  that  the  master  who  dispenses 
with  corporal  punishment  falls  back  upon  those  other 
resources  of  discipline  which  are  of  a  moral  character 
and  a  more  abiding  influence.  He  remarks,  too,  on 
the  extent  to  which  the  habit  of  inflicting  corporal 
punishment  may  grow  upon  the  master,  and  of  the 
callous  endurance  of  it  by  children,  as  showing  how 
pernicious  it  is.  The  school  is  ill-managed  in  which 
the  moving  principle  is  terror  of  the  rod.  Its  un- 
healthy moral  condition  may  be  disguised  from  the 
master,  but  it  is  palpable  to  others.  The  very  faces  of  the 
children  show  it.  Sentiments  of  fear  being  habitual, 
a  sullen  apathy,  or  the  sinister  expression  of  a  silent 
but  resolute  opposition,  is  the  prevailing  condition. 

He  attributes  the  prevalence  of  this  mode  of  punish- 
ment either  to  want  of  temper  or  to  ignorance  of  his 
profession  on  the  part  of  the  master.  "  The  rod  or 
the  cane  is  an  obvious  and  a  simple  expedient  for 
getting  the  children's  lessons  learned,  to  which  a 
teacher  unskilled  in  the  higher  resources  of  his  art 


INSPECTORS.  287 

invariably  resorts,  with  the  more  energy  as  he  is  the 
more  zealous  for  their  welfare,  and  the  more  ignorant 
of  the  best  means  of  promoting  it.  The  demoralizing 
influence  of  a  course  of  discipline  like  this  outweighs 
any  amount  of  technical  knowledge  of  which  it  may  be 
the  price."  "  We  little  appreciate  the  power  in 
education  of  patient,  enduring,  abiding  love.  Could 
we  but  bring  to  bear  upon  the  work  of  the  teacher 
the  whole  power  that  there  is  in  love — never  to  be 
discouraged,  wearied,  or  repulsed, — there  is  per- 
haps no  obduracy  of  the  heart  of  a  child  that 
would  resist  it,  and  no  evil  that  it  would  not  reach 
and  purify.  If  in  a  school  the  spirit  of  love  could 
remain  unbroken  from  day  to  day  and  from  year  to 
year,  that  would  constitute  the  perfection  of  its  dis- 
cipline. .  .  Men  readily  understand  the  discipline 
of  punishment  to  secure  obedience, — or  of  reserve  ; 
these  are  easy  expedients,  in  the  power  of  a  bad 
teacher  as  entirely  as  a  good  one  ;  but  they  do  not  so 
easily  comprehend  the  discipline  of  love.  Its  fruits 
are  not  seen  at  once.  It  demands  time,  patience, 
perseverance,  and  is  an  expedient  only  within  the 
power  of  a  good  teacher." 

On  the  equipment  of  the  teacher,  the  necessity  of 
professional  training,  and  the  principles  that  should 
guide  teaching,  there  are  many  remarks  distributed 
through  the  reports.  A  schoolmaster  is  required  to 
be  meet  not  only  for  learning,  but  for  dexterity  in 
teaching.  He  must  indeed  not  only  have  acquired  the 
knowledge  which  he  has  to  communicate,  but  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  best  methods  of  communicating  it, 
and  thoroughly  practised  in  the  use  of  those  methods. 


288  SYSTEMS  OF  EDUCATION. 

It  is  in  the  experience  of  every  teacher,  that  to 
embrace  a  truth  one's  self,  and  to  be  able  to  present 
it  under  the  simplest  form  to  another,  are  essentially 
different  things.  It  is  necessary  that  teaching  as  an 
art  should  be  made  the  subject  of  study.  Mere 
practice  of  this  art  does  not  give  proficiency.  It  has 
principles  and  rules,*  which  mustbe  the  subjects  of 
rational  investigation.  There  must  be  the  habitual 
study  of  the  best  methods,  and  of  the  principles  on 
which  they  are  based.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  work  of  the  elementary  schoolmaster  is  one  of  no 
ordinary  difficulty.  That  the  children  who  come  to 
him  have  never  been  taught  to  think,  have  no  know- 
ledge which  may  form  the  subject  of  thought,  and  are 
without  the  means  of  acquiring  that  knowledge.  He 
has  to  act  on  untutored  minds,  to  give  them  the  arts 
of  learning,  to  teach  them  to  think  and  understand, 
aud  to  store  their  minds  with  material  for  thought. 
This  is  impossible  to  those  who  are  not  acquainted 
with  teaching  as  a  science  as  well  as  practised  in  it  as 
an  art. 

"  It  is  the  triumph  of  the  art  of  the  teacher  to 
break  down  the  separation  interposed  between  his  own 
and  the  uneducated  mind.  From  his  own  ample  stores 
to  select  those  adapted  to  form  the  first  elements  of 
the  knowledge  of  a  child,  and  so  to  present  them  as 
best  to  lead  the  child  to  reason  upon  them  and  to 
understand  them.  The  principal  object  ef  a  lesson 
has  been  lost  in  respect  to  any  child  on  whose  mind 
no  impression  remains  when  the  lesson  is  over;  and 
an  obstacle  has  been  interposed  to  its  further  progress 
if  its  reasoning  powers  have  not  been  exercised,  and  ita 


INSPECTORS.  289 

inceAieence  gathered  strength  from  it.  The  child's 
mind  has  been  unjustly  tasked,  and  its  attention, 
claimed  where  it  was  not  due,  has  heen  simulated. 
Thus  the  efforts  of  the  teacher,  which  ought  to  ac- 
custom it  to  apply  its  thoughts  and  to  reflect  on  what 
it  has  learned,  result  in  giving  it  the  habit  of  a  feigned 
attention  and  a  Avandering  mind.  'But  of  all  the  evils 
inflicted  on  a  child  who  is  compelled  to  listen  to  a 
lesson  which  it  does  not  comprehend,  the  greatest 
probably  is  that  which  is  involved  in  the  sacrifice  made 
of  its  faith  in  the  teacher.  '  The  child  comes  into  the 
world,'  says  Pere  Girard, '  not  only  with  faculties  to 
learn  from  others  what  he  is  ignorant  of,  but  with  a 
happy  tendency  to  believe  them.  He  is  told  and  he 
believes.  It  is  thus  that  the  knowledge  of  others 
becomes  his.  Take  away  faith  from  the  heart  of  a 
child,  and  how  can  it  learn  1 '  When  day  by  day  the 
child  is  compelled  to  sit  a  patient  listener  to  instruc- 
tions to  which  it  attaches  no  intelligible  meaning, 
how  entirely  is  this  faith  sacrificed  !  "  "  The  deception 
is  carried  on  to  positive  falsehood  when,  in  the  exa- 
mination which  follows  the  lesson,  the  child  is  made 
to  profess  himself  to  have  understood  what  he  did  not 
understand."  "  The  failure  of  a  schoolmaster  as  a 
teacher  must  impair  his  influence  in  whatever  else, 
besides  teaching,  belongs  to  his  office,  a  proposition 
the  converse  of  which  is  also  true.  Such  a  teacher  is 
likely  to  claim  of  the  children  that  they  should 
understand  what  he  supposes  himself  to  have  ex- 
plained to  them,  but  really  has  not ;  and  he  is  likely 
to  te  angry  with  them  if  they  have  not  understood  it. 
By  this  injustice  he  raises  up  an  antagonism  in  the 
TJ 


290  SYSTEMS   OF   EDUCATION. 

n?fuda  of  the  children,  the  more  demoralizing  that  it 
n;ust  be  disguised ;  or  if  the  child  remains  un- 
conscious that  the  failure  is  on  the  side  of  the  master, 
and  sets  it  down  to  his  own  incapacity  to  understand 
what  the  master  has  tried  to  teach  him,  the  injury  to 
the  child  is  none  the  less  by  reason  of  the  discourage- 
ment which  he  has  experienced,  and  the  distrust 
which,  without  foundation,  has  been  created  in  his 
mind,  of  his  power  to  reason  and  understand." 

"  Oral  instruction  is  especially  an  agency  by  which  an 
uninstructed  child  may  be  taught  to  think  and  reason  ; 
whilst  it  is  the  most  direct,  it  is  probably  the  most 
effectual  means  of  imparting  to  it  that  definite  amount 
of  knowledge  which  the  master  may  happen  himself  to 
possess.  By  a  most  useful  reaction  it  becomes  to  him 
moreover  a  continual  process  of  self -instruction,  exer- 
cising his  faculties  of  reasoning,  and  his  powers  of 
exposition,  prompting  him  to  study  the  minds  of  his 
scholars,  and  encouraging  him  to  enlarge  the  boundaries 
of  his  knowledge.  With  this  form,  of  instruction  it  is, 
however,  most  important  that  the  use  of  books  should 
be  combined.  The  child  must  be  made  a  student.  It 
ia  not  enough  that  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  be 
imparted  to  it ;  if  a  process  of  self- instruction  be  not 
induced  in  the  process  of  oral  instruction  a  child  is 
never  an  independent  agent ;  he  neither  seeks  know- 
ledge for  himself,  nor  unaided  encounters  any  of  the 
difficulties  opposed  to  its  acquisition.  His  mind  leans 
continually  on  the  mind  of  his  teacher ;  and,  unaccus- 
tomed to  support  itself,  if  some  other  state  be  not  made 
to  alternate  with  this,  it  goes  with  difficulty  alone.  It 
is  m  tne  well-baianced  union  of  the  two  methods  of 


INSPECTORS.  291 

oral  instruction  by  the  master,  and  self-instruction  by 
the  child,  that  the  secret  of  elementary  education 
appears  to  consist." 

In  oral  lessons  there  is  too  often  a  tendency  to  travel 
out  of  the  sphere  of  the  intelligence  of  the  children, 
and  to  bring  before  them  subjects  in  forms  unsuited 
to  their  years,  and  foreign  to  their  interest.  There  is 
also  a  want  of  vivacity  and  energy  in  examination.  The 
vagrant  thoughts  of  the  children  constitute  the  chief 
obstacle  a  master  has  to  contend  with  in  teaching  them . 
This  unsettled  state  of  the  mind  in  children,  the  skilful 
master,  knowing  it  to  be  proper  to  their  years,  rather 
seeks  to  turn  to  his  use  than  to  contend  with.  To  keep 
alive  the  interest  of  the  children  in  the  lesson  he  varies 
it  by  frequent  examinations  •  his  questions  follow  in 
rapid  succession ;  they  tend  to  a  drawing  out  of  the 
reason  rather  than  the  memory,  and  he  shifts  continually 
the  point  of  view  in  which  his  subject  is  presented, 
giving  prominence  to  those  features  of  it  by  which  it 
is  related  to  things  familiar  to  the  children  themselves. 
All  that  he  does  is  founded  on  a  careful  study  of  the 
characteristics  of  childhood,  and  a  just  appreciation  of 
them.  He  has  carefully  observed  the  ways  of  children, 
and  the  efforts  they  make  to  reflect,  reason,  and  under- 
stand. Of  the  knowledge  he  has  thus  acquired  he 
avails  himself  to  command  their  attention  ;  and  when 
this  fails  he  calls  the  sympathy  of  numbers  to  his  aid,  or 
throws  in  the  element  of  emulation.  Warming  with  his 
task,  the  interest  he  feels  passes  to  the  children,  and  the 
whole  group  glows  with  the  desire  to  know.  This  condi- 
tion of  mind  is  not  transient,  the  lesson  is  repeated 
daily,  and  it  becomes  therefore  in  some  degree  habitual. 


292  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

Of  defects  in  oral  lessons  he  observes,  "  Had  the 
teacher  known  more  of  the  subject-matter  of  his 
lesson,  it  has  been  my  constant  observation  that  he 
would  have  been  able  to  select  from  it  things  better 
adapted  to  the  instruction  of  children,  and  to  place 
them  in  a  simpler  point  of  view.  That  he  may  be  able 
to  present  his  subject  to  the  minds  of  the  children  in 
its  most  elementary  forms,  he  himself  must  have  gone 
to  the  root  of  it ;  and  that  he  may  exhaust  it  of  all 
that  it  is  capable  of  yielding  for  the  child's  instruction, 
he  must  have  compassed  the  whole  of  it."  "  The  car- 
dinal defect  of  oral  lesson  in  elementary  schools  is  an 
inadequate  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  of 
that  which  he  is  teaching.  If  his  knowledge  of  it  had 
covered  a  larger  surface  he  would  have  selected  matter 
better  adapted  to  the  instruction  of  the  children.  If 
he  had  comprehended  it  more  fully  he  would  have 
made  it  plainer  to  them.  If  he  had  been  more  familiar 
with  it,  he  had  spoken  more  to  the  point.  I  will  en- 
deavour to  illustrate  this  by  an  example.  A  teacher 
proposing  to  give  an  oral  lesson  on  coal,  for  instance, 
holds  a  piece  of  it  up  before  his  class,  and  having 
secured  their  attention,  he  probably  asks  them  to  which 
kingdom  it  belongs,  animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral, — a 
question  in  no  case  of  much  importance,  and  to  be 
answered,  in  the  case  of  coal,  doubtfully.  Having, 
however,  extracted  that  answer  which  he  intended  to 
get  from  the  children,  he  induces  them  by  many  ingeni- 
ous devices,  much  circumlocution,  and  an  extravagant 
expenditure  of  the  time  of  the  school,  to  say  that  it  is 
a  solid,  that  it  is  heavy,  that  it  is  opaque,  that  it  is 
back,  that  it  is  friable,  and  that  it  is  combustible.  In 


INSPECTORS.  293 

such  a  lesson  the  teacher  affords  evidence  of  no  other 
knowledge  of  the  particular  thing  wliich  is  the  subject 
of  it  than  the  children  might  be  supposed  to  possess 
before  the  lesson  began.  He  gives  it  easily,  because 
the  form  is  the  same  for  every  lesson ;  the  blanks  having 
only  to  be  differently  filled  up  every  time  it  is  repeated. 
All  that  it  is  adapted  for  is  to  teach  them  the  meanings 
of  some  unusual  words,  words  useless  to  them  because 
they  apply  to  abstract  ideas,  and  which,  as  the  type  of 
all  such  lessons  is  the  same,  he  has  probably  often  taught 
them  before. 

"  He  has  shown  some  knowledge  of  words,  but  none 
ofthings.  Of  the  particular  thing  called  coal  as  distin- 
guished from  any  other  thing  he  knows  nothing  more 
than  the  child,  but  only  of  certain  properties  common 
to  it  and  almost  everything  else,  and  of  certain  words, 
useless  to  poor  children,  which  describe  those  properties. 
Coal  is  a  common  thing  to  the  child,  one  with  which 
its  daily  observation  is  familiar,  intimately  connected 
with  uses  of  its  life — a  substance  about  which  it  might 
be  taught  many  things  which  would  probably  be  of 
great  use  to  it  in  after  life,  things  which  it  would  not 
be  likely  ever  to  know  unless  it  were  so  taught  them. 
This  tendency,  from  ignorance  of  things,  to  teach 
children  words  only,  runs  in  a  notable  manner  through 
almost  all  of  the  lessons  on  physical  science  which  I 
have  listened  to." 

Other  defects  are  noted.  "  An  earnest  teacher,  by 
an  excess  of  earnestness,  sometimes  becomes  minute  and 
interfering,  and  unconsciously  he  is  unjust,  not  giving 
the  children  credit  for  being  right  in  their  answers  when 
they  are  right,  compelling  them  to  shape  such  answers 


294  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

precisely  in  the  words  which  he  himself  would  use, — 
words  not  so  good,  perhaps,  as  the  child's,  because  not 
so  simple.  This  tendency  is  a  cardinal  defect  in  teach- 
ing, and  I  believe  its  influence  to  be  extremely  demoral- 
izing." "An  examiner  ought  not  to  require  the  answer 
in  a  tone  of  command,  authoritatively,  but  simply  as  an 
interrogation,  not  leading  but  following  the  train  of 
thought  of  the  person  examined,  and,  as  it  follows, 
guiding  it.  Some  teachers  seem  to  think  that  all  that 
is  required  for  a  good  examination  is  to  question  rapidly, 
unhesitatingly.  The  teacher  should  specially  be  upon 
his  guard  against  an  abrupt  and  over-confident  manner 
in  teaching,  and  a  tendency  to  contradict  the  children 
for  no  other  assignable  cause  than  self-assertion  when 
they  have  answered  rightly.  His  mind  should  be  en- 
tirely upon  the  children,  and  away  from  himself." 

The  plan  first  suggested  by  Professor  Moseley,  of 
organizing  a  common  elementary  school  in  three  divi- 
sions, corresponding  to  the  threefold  work  of  such 
school,  bore  excellent  fruit.  The  principles  which  he 
lays  down  are  admirable.  "  To  educate  children,  the 
action  of  an  enlightened  teacher  upon  them  is  required, 
with  an  individual  application  to  each  individual 
mind.  There  must  be  the  separate  contact  of  the  mind 
of  the  master  with  the  mind  of  the  child  ;  the  separate 
study  of  it ;  the  separate  ministering  to  its  wants, 
checking  its  waywardness,  propping  up  and  guiding 
and  encouraging  its  first  efforts,  building  it  up  and 
establishing  it.  The  whole  time  allowed  out  of  the 
life  of  a  poor  child  for  its  school  days  is  all  too  short. 
Nothing  can  be  done  unless  the  most  powerful  of  the 
resources  of  the  schoolmaster  be  brought  to  bear  upon 


INSPECTORS.  295 

every  moment  of  it.  If  his  work  be  not  taken  in 
hand  forthwith,  not  only  will  he  have  lost  the  most 
favourable  season  for  it,  but  the  whole  opportunity.  I 
claim,  therefore,  as  a  privilege  of  the  child,  and  as  a 
paramount  duty  of  the  master,  that  his  own  individual 
culture  of  the  child's  mind,  his  own  direct  and  per- 
sonal labour  upon  it,  should  begin  from  the  moment 
the  child  first  enters  the  school,  and  never  be  inter- 
rupted until  he  leaves  it.  That  tho  child  should  not, 
for  instance,  be  tossed  about,  as  it  passes  through  the 
school,  from  hand  to  hand,  from  teacher  to  teacher, 
beginning  at  that  of  the  lowest  merit,  until,  if  it  ever 
reach  the  first  or  second,  it  comes  at  length  under  the 
master  mind  of  the  school,  which  should  have  operated 
upon  it  throughout.  It  is  n  t  by  a  process  thus 
broken  and  disjointed  that  anything  great  or  perma- 
nent will  be  realized.  Many  elements  of  the  character 
of  the  child,  which  the  master  would  easily  have 
read  in  the  lowest  class  of  the  school,  will  be  dis- 
'guised  from  him  if  he  first  takes  it  up  in  the  highest ; 
many  evils,  which  he  might  have  corrected  then,  will 
now  have  become  incorrigible  ;  much  that  he  might 
have  built  up  by  a  gradual  process,  growing  with  the 
child's  growth  and  strengthening  with  its  strength, 
will  be  impracticable  to  any  less  sustained  and  con- 
tinuous effort." 

Accordingly  he  recommends  that  each  school  shall 
be  formed  into  three  groups,  and  that  each  group  shall 
pass  in  turn  into  a  room  for  oral  instruction  by  the 
master ;  the  other  groups,  being  one  at  preparatory 
work  in  classes  and  drafts,  the  other  at  silent  exercises 
in  desks.  The  system  thus  recommended  largely 


296  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

modified  the  organization  of  schools.  Provision  was 
more  extensively  made  than  heretofore  for  oral  teaching 
by  the  master,  but  the  system  as  a  whole  never  made  its 
way,  and  for  obvious  reasons.  It  exacted  more  from 
the  master  than  could  be  given  long  with  safety  to  his 
health,  and  it  made  no  provision  for  that  moral  over- 
sight which  at  least  is  of  as  much  importance  as  intel- 
lectual culture.  The  tripartite  organization  was  sub- 
sequently adapted  by  Fletcher  to  the  Borough  Road 
Practising  Schools,  and  in  a  modified  form  was  exten- 
sively adopted  in  other  schools. 

This  form  of  organization,  modified  to  meet  special 
circumstances,  will  probably  continue  to  be  employed 
in  village  schools.  But  the  Act  of  1870,  in  the 
powers  with  which  it  has  invested  school  boards,  has 
made  possible  an  organization  of  schools  which  would 
go  far  to  solve  the  problem  how  to  educate  to  the  best 
advantage  the  children  of  our  urban  population.  This 
would  be  best  done  by  a  system  of  grade  schools,  but 
materially  differing  from  those  established  by  Stow. 
In  his  system  each  school  was  distinct  under  its  own 
responsible  master,  but  all  the  schools  in  the  group 
were  under  one  roof,  with  ahead  master,  who  wasnot  only 
responsible  for  his  own  school,  but  for  unity  of  system  in 
all.  In  lieu  of  this  plan,  it  would  be  better  to  place  a 
group  of  grade  schools  in  a  district  of  given  area,  each 
school  easily  accessible  from  all  parts  of  it.  Each 
school  in  the  group,  occupying  its  own  separate  and 
distinct  building,  should  have  its  own  curriculum, 
corresponding  to  what  now  constitutes  a  standard  of 
the  Education  Department.  This  should  form  the 
minimum  of  attainment  in  its  own  school,  and  the 


INSPECTORS.  297 

ability  to  do  it  should  be  the  test  for  admission  into 
the  school  of  the  next  higher  grade.  Thus  a  system  of 
schools  would  be  established,  each  preparatory  to  the 
next  in  advance ;  each  school  would  be  under  a  head 
master,  who  would  be  absolutely  responsible  for  its 
progress  within  the  defined  limits,  but  who  would  not 
be  restricted  to  them,  during  the  time  the  scholars 
were  under  his  charge.  Thus,  too,  there  would  be  a 
system  of  schools  which  would  begin  at  the  very 
lowest  point  of  elementary  attainment,  and  proceed  by 
easy  gradation  to  the  highest  point  of  culture. 

SEYMOUR  TREMENHEERE  was  one  of  the  earlier  in 
spectors  of  schools.  The  faithfulness  of  his  reports  in 
pointing  out  defects  in  schools,  and  especially  those 
found  in  British  schools,  ultimately  led  to  his  "  pro- 
motion "  from  the  inspection  of  schools  to  the  inspection 
of  mines.  Yet  he  could  appreciate  and  praise  good  work. 
"  In  the  boys'  school  at  the  village  of  Illogan  the 
Scriptural  and  catechetical  lessons  are  made  to  consist 
of  much  more  than  mere  reading  and  repetition.  The 
due  exercise  of  the  understanding  seems  to  be  kept 
very  constantly  in  view.  Maps  and  a  few  books  illus- 
trative of  Scripture  are  used  to  assist  the  apprehension, 
and  to  awaken  greater  interest  by  giving  clearer  per- 
ceptions. Lessons  in  geography,  in  the  elements  of 
astronomy,  on  physiology,  on  metals  and  minerals, 
flowers,  and  other  subjects  of  natural  history,  tested 
afterwards,  either  catecheticatly  or  by  writing,  enlarge 
the  circle  of  ideas  and  arouse  curiosity.  Maps  are 
drawn  on  the  black-board  from  memory,  also  on  paper. 
The  black-board  is  used  for  drawing  and  illustrating 
geometrical  figures  and  simple  objects  of  natural 


298  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

history  or  of  art.  Grammar  is  attended  to.  The 
arithmetic  frame  is  used  for  beginners.  Some  few 
boys  had  gone  through  Bonnycastle's  "  Mensuration ; " 
others  had  begun  simple  equations  and  "  Euclid." 
None  were  above  thirteen  years  of  age." 

In  the  same  report  of  1840  he  thus  incidentally 
speaks  of  oral  collective  lessons  : — "  The  daily  oral 
lesson,  as  given  in  the  most  improved  day  schools) 
tested  by  questions,  or  by  writing  its  substance,  could 
not  fail  of  its  usual  result  in  awakening  intelligence 
and  a  taste  for  knowledge.  The  tendency  to  fall  into 
mere  dogmatical  teaching,  outrunning  in  language  and 
subject  the  intelligence  of  the  children,  is  natural  to 
those  who  have  not  prepared  themselves,  by  previous 
consideration  of  each  proposed  oral  lesson,  for  the  diffi- 
cult and  important  art  of  communicating  it.  The 
power  of  mastering  any  continuous  subject,  of  reducing 
it  to  clear,  logical  order,  and  of  presenting  it  to  the 
minds  of  young  children  in  simple  terms,  in  regular 
gradation  from  its  first  steps  or  simplest  element,  so  as 
to  lead  the  learner  along  a  clear  yet  almost  insensible 
path  of  progression,  is  far  from  being  of  easy  acquire- 
ment, and  yet  is  amongst  the  first  principles  of  sound 
teaching.  The  skill  also  by  which  every  answer  and 
every  incident  is  turned  to  account  by  an  adroit 
master,  for  moral  or  mental  discipline,  cannot  be 
gained  without  attention  and  cultivation." 

The  oral  lesson  needs  not  only  careful  preparation, 
and  a  just  appreciation  of  the  several  devices  to  be 
employed  to  secure  attention  and  work,  but  a  proper 
division  of  the  children.  "A  school  of  100"  would 
be  divided  for  this  purpose  into  three  large  groups, 


1NSPECTOKS.  299 

each  of  which  would  receive  in  turii  its  lesson  from 
the  master.  Such  a  lesson  is  thus  described  by  M.  de 
Gerando, — "In  this  lesson  the  teacher  instructs  and 
directs  a  certain  number  of  children  together,  he 
addresses  to  all  the  same  language,  the  same  demon- 
strations ;  all  execute  at  once  the  same  things  and  act 
in  union.  He  has  his  eye  on  all,  and  all  observe  and 
hear  him.  There  is  therefore  more  simplicity  and  more 
rapidity  in  his  operations ;  the  strength  and  time  of 
the  instructor  are  distributed  with  more  economy; 
imitation  and  sympathy  animate  and  sustain  the 
children  in  that  common  progress  which  they  are 
making  together ;  the  harmony  of  their  labour  keeps 
up  a  natural  discipline. 

"  It  is  of  the  essence  of  this  mode  of  aiTangement 
and  teaching  that  the  children  should  be  divided  into 
large  groups,  each  as  nearly  as  possible  equal  in  age, 
capacity,  and  progress.  But  even  under  the  most 
careful  management  this  method  has  its  defects,  '  as  it 
cannot  always  happen,  when  the  group  is  numerous, 
that  all  the  children  should  really  be  of  the  same  degree 
of  capacity  and  advancement.  The  weaker  therefore 
remain  behind,  or  the  more  able  are  obliged  to  stop  and 
wait  for  their  comrades.'  The  mode  of  simultaneous 
answering  is  not  an  essential  part  of  the  simultaneous 
method  of  teaching.  It  is  a  very  questionable  practice, 
as  affording  a  considerable  opening  for  deception.  The 
first  words  of  the  answer  of  the  quickest  often  suggest 
the  whole,  is  caught  with  rapidity  by  the  rest,  and 
passes  as  theirs.  A  better  mode  is  to  desire  all  who 
can  answer  to  hold  up  their  hands,  and  to  take  a  cer- 
tain number  before  deciding  which  is  right." 


300  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

On  the  function  of  the  school  to  attend  to  the  edu- 
cation of  the  whole  child  he  has  the  following  observa- 
tions : — "  The  name  of  Pestalozzi  is  now  so  commonly 
and  so  exclusively  associated  with  one  of  the  valuable 
principles  on  which  he  insisted — that  of  making  it  a 
primary  object  of  education  to  draw  out  and  strengthen 
all  the  faculties,  the  physical  as  well  as  the  intellectual 
and  moral, — that  it  appears  to  be  overlooked  that  in 
enforcing  this  he  was  only  reviving  and  giving  a  more 
extensive  application  to  what  had  been  the  enlightened 
practice  of  former  times,  and  the  principle  of  all  the 
most  philosophical  writers  on  the  subject  of  education 
down  to  his  own  day."  The  public  and  private  educa- 
tion of  Athens  and  Home  was  eminently  one  designed 
to  develop  all  the  faculties, — in  the  language  of  Milton, 
"to  lit  a  man  to  perform  justly,  skilfully,  and  mag- 
nanimously, all  the  offices,  both  private  and  public,  of 
peace  and  of  war."  Fenelon  was  of  opinion  that  it  was 
of  the  first  consequence  "that  this  should  be  well 
heeded."  Milton  and  Locke  are  of  the  same  mind. 
Dugald  Stewart  thus  defines  the  essential  objects  of 
education : — "They  are,  first,  to  cultivate  all  the 
various  principles  of  our  nature,  both  speculative  and 
active,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  them  to  the  great- 
est perfection  of  which  they  are  susceptible ;  and, 
secondly,  by  watching  over  the  impressions  and  asso- 
ciations which  the  mind  receives  in  early  life,  to  secure 
it  against  the  influence  of  prevailing  errors,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  engage  its  prepossessions  on  the  side  of 
truth." 

That  the  teacher  may  rightly  fulfil  his  duty  in  de- 
veloping and  improving  the  faculties,  and  in  calling 


INSPECTORS.  301 

forth  and  regulating  the  affections  of  those  committed 
to  his  charge,  it  is  essential  that  he  should  have  some 
acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  the  human  mind- 
In  general,  his  utmost  aim  at  present,  corresponding 
with  the  extent  of  his  capacity,  is  to  lead  the  intellect 
through  some  of  the  lower  processes  of  elementary 
teaching.  Even  this  branch  of  duty  opens  to  him  a 
field  of  usefulness  on  which  he  is  seldom  prepared  to 
enter.  Stewart  says,  "  To  instruct  youth  in  the 
languages  and  in  the  sciences  is,  comparatively,  of 
little  importance  if  we  are  inattentive  to  the  habits 
they  acquire,  and  are  not  careful  in  giving  to  their 
different  faculties,  and  all  their  different  principles  of 
action,  a  proper  degree  of  employment.  Abstracting 
entirely  from  the  culture  of  their  moral  powers,  how 
extensive  and  difficult  is  the  business  of  conduct- 
ing their  intellectual  improvement !  To  watch  over 
the  associations  which  they  form  in  their  tender  years ; 
to  give  them  early  habits  of  mental  activity;  to  rouse 
their  curiosity,  and  to  direct  it  to  proper  objects ;  to 
exercise  their  ingenuity  and  invention ;  to  cultivate  in 
their  minds  a  turn  for  speculation,  and  at  the  same  time 
preserve  their  attention  alive  to  the  objects  around 
them  ;  to  awaken  their  sensibilities  to  the  beauties  of 
nature,  and  to  inspire  them  with  a  relish  for  intellec- 
kial  enjoyment — these  form  but  a  part  of  the  business 
of  education  ;  and  yet  the  execution  even  of  this  part 
requires  an  acquaintance  with  the  general  principles  of 
our  nature  which  seldom  falls  to  the  share  of  those  to 
whom  the  instruction  of  youth  is  commonly  entrusted." 
In  the  same  direction  are  the  following  remarks : — 
"  The  power  of  furnishing  the  mind,  of  enlarging  and 


302  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

improving  it,  can  obviously  belong  only  to  a  master 
who  can  command  the  stores  of  a  well-cultivated  mind, 
and  has  also  learned  the  art  of  using  them.  It  is  such  a 
one  alone  who  can  rise  above  the  mere  mechanism  of 
teaching — can  call  forth  all  the  latent  faculties  of  his 
pupils,  and  raise  them  towards  the  level  of  his  own. 
Such  a  one  will  see  in  the  world  around  him  some  of 
the  most  important  subjects  on  which  to  found  his  in- 
struction, and  will  lead  the  young  mind  to  test,  by  the 
true  spirit  of  Christianity,  its  various  acts,  responsi- 
bilities, and  duties.  He  will  not  overlook  the  import- 
ance of  raising  and  regulating  the  character,  through 
a  due  cultivation  and  development  of  the  moral  sen- 
timents, and  a  watchful  superintendence  over  the 
habits  and  conduct.  To  this  end  he  will  do  what,  in 
the  generally  over-anxious  desire  to  convey  a  mere 
knowledge  of  material  facts,  is  too  often  omitted — he 
will  open  the  stores  of  high  and  generous  examples 
which  history  contains,  to  warm  the  mind  of  youth,  to 
raise  the  thoughts  of  age,  and  to  invite  imitation.  The 
effect  of  not  familiarizing  the  mind  of  the  young  with 
instances  of  this  kind,  inspiring  a  sympathy  with 
generous  natures,  awakening  admiration  for  acts  of 
magnanimity  and  self-sacrifice,  and  kindling  a  love  of 
country,  is  to  produce  a  distrust  of  the  existence  of  any 
such  motives,  and  therefore  to  obstruct  and  discourage 
in  many  ways  the  cause  of  public  improvement." 

"The  domain  of  imagination,  through  an  acquaint- 
ance with  our  best  poetry,  is  far  too  little  cultivated  in 
the  ordinary  day  schools.  It  is  almost  entirely  ne- 
glected. There  can  be  no  valid  reason  for  overlooking 
so  powerful  an  auxiliary  in  the  work  of  raising  the  mind 


303 

and  mending  the  heart.  Selected  passages  of  some 
poetry  and  of  the  best  prose  might  be  committed  to 
memory  in  every  common  school ;  and  the  sources  of 
the  most  refined  pleasure  thus  opened  to  the  mind  of 
youth  would  most  probably  yield  support  and  refresh- 
ment to  a  whole  life  of  temptation  and  toil.  A  sense 
of  what  is  beautiful  in  taste,  correct  in  thought  and 
feeling,  and  exalted  in  conduct,  might  thence  be  dif- 
fused more  widely,  and  the  sentiments  thus  worked  into 
the  national  mind  would  result  no  less  in  a  just  appre- 
ciation of  the  literature  and  institutions  of  the  country 
than  in  a  proper  self-esteem.  A  schoolmaster  who 
rightly  estimates  his  power  of  benefiting  the  community 
will  not  throw  away  this  instrument  of  its  welfare.  In 
every  common  school,  passages  copied  into  a  book 
during  the  school  hours  might  be  learnt  by  heart  at 
home." 

He  thus  describes  a  class  in  a  school  inspected  in 
1842  : —  "Their  reading  lessons  were  so  conducted  as 
to  become  a  valuable  intellectual  exercise.  If  any  in- 
accuracy arises,  or  any  error  in  pronunciation,  accent, 
or  emphasis,  the  sentence  is  read  again  by  the  boy 
making  the  fault  until  it  is  corrected.  An  effort  is 
thence  induced  to  be  accurate  in  the  first  instance. 
The  meaning  of  the  sentence  is  then  required  in  their 
own  language;  the  etymology  of  every  compound  word  ; 
various  derivatives  of  the  same  root ;  the  various  mean- 
ings of  the  same  word  ;  the  mode  of  its  use  in  different 
senses ;  the  words  or  clauses  in  a  sentence,  in  opposition 
to  or  in  connection  with  each  other ;  finally,  its  gov- 
ernment and  the  examples  it  affords  of  the  rules  of 
grammar  and  composition.  A  dozen  pages  gone 


304  SYSTEMS   OF  EDUCATION. 

through  in  this  manner,  slowly  and  carefully,  will 
have  done  much  towards  giving  a  knowledge  of 
language ;  while  the  mental  effort  required  will  have 
raised  and  strengthened  the  faculties.  The  advantage 
of  this  kind  of  training  was  shown  by  these  boys  in 
their  writing  exercise."  He  thus  speaks  of  a  class  in 
another  school : — "  In  the  second  class  the  iirst  lessons 
are  given  on  etymology." 


INDEX. 


ABBOTT  ;  on  reproof,  188 ;  on  character,  197  ;  moral  review,  229. 

JSsop's  Fables  a  reading  hook,  36,  47 

Alphabet;  plain  card,  45  ;  on  teaching  me,  oi ;  Bell's  plan,  172  ; 

kindergarten,  159. 
Amateurs  and  helpers.  262. 
Analysis  and  synthesis,  280. 
Apt  to  teach,  206,  287. 
Arnold  on  chiding  hastily.  7. 
Aristotle  on  emulation,  184. 
Arithmetic ;  early  lessons,  53,  84 ;  Pestalozzian,  145  ;  Dunning 

on,  146;  Mayo,  148;  De  Morgan,  148;   kindergarten,   159; 

Lancaster,  193 ;  Grant  and  Saturday  Review,  274. 
Ascham's  schoolmaster,  4. 
Attention,  33,  56,  166,  271. 
Authority  in  moral  training,  29.  122.  130. 

.Bell's  monitorial  system,  162. 

Books,  14,  36,  45,  61,  68,  173.  J91.  208. 

Brougham,  Lord,  263. 

Caughie,  prince  of  infant  teachers,  212. 
Caxton,  2. 

Cecil  on  corporal  punishment,  5. 
Central  Soci  ty  and  its  work,  264. 

T 


306  IN7EX. 

Chadwick  on  Grant,  270. 

Character  a  growth,  197. 

Chaucer,  2. 

Child-nature,  26,  28,  79,  122,  155,  224,  299. 

Child,  necessity  of  exertion,  69,  166,  168. 

Children  must  be  employed,  166,  272. 

Cicero,  8,  11. 

Classical  learning  and  its  advantages,  39. 

Classification  in  school,  177,  192,  194. 

Colet  founds  St.  Paul's  School,  3. 

Collective  teaching,  261,  290,  298. 

Colour  and  form,  141,  160. 

Comenius,  13. 

Composition,  38,  47. 

Conscience,  culture  of.  115. 

Cornewaile  introduces  English  into  schools,  1. 

Corporal  punishment,  6,  8,  jjl,  189,  286. 

Curiosity,  33. 

Currie  ;  action,  221 ;  sympathy  of  numbers,  235. 

Daily  News  on  praise  and  blamo  8 

Development  in  education,  90,  97.  99,  102,  225. 

Devices  in  school  work,  170. 

Discipline,  6,  18,  29,  62,  80,  120,  182,  190,  220,  28tf. 

Discipline  of  natural  consequences,  32,  62,  128. 

Distinction,  love  of,  201. 

Doddridge,  pictures  in  early  training,  14. 

Drawing,  49,  159. 

Dunning,  96,  116,  122 

Edgeworths,  father  and  daughter,  48. 

Education ;  according  to  bias,  28,  40,  123  ;  general,  not  special, 
41,  72,  165  ;  should  be  religious,  88, 104,  217,  266  ;  principles, 
88  ;  should  be  organic,  89  ;  harmonious,  91 ;  must  have  unity, 
104;  essential  conditions,  166;  golden  rule  in,  167;  relation 
to  citizen,  265. 
ducation,  tendency  to  lose  ground  in,  93;  \vant  of  faith  in,  28,5. 


INDEX.  307 

Educational  Department  and  its  work,  276. 

Educational  systems,  testa  applied  to,  103,  163. 

English  fiist  taught  in  schools,  1. 

Elementary  school,  162  ;  its  function  moral,  214. 

Emulation  ;  a  powerful  agent,  184  ;  class,  202. 

Enthusiasm  necessary,  205. 

Example  stronger  than  precept,  119. 

Experience  the  starting-point  in  moral  culture,  1 18. 

Exposition  of  reading  lesson,  208,   303. 

Evil  should  never  be  suggested,  27. 

Fear  in  education,  18,  31,  63,  225. 
Feelings,  culture  of,  113. 
Fellenberg  on  public  opinion,  198. 
Form  and  colour,  141 ;  form,  148  ;  kindergarten,  158. 
French  ;  on  learning,  38,  46. 
-     Frobel's  kindergarten,  154. 

Geography,  47. 

Gill,  Alexander,  4. 

Glasgow  Educational  Society,  213. 

God,  child's  first  notions  of,  106. 

Grade  schools  :  a  system  of  wanted,  297 

Graded  schools,  238. 

Graduation  of  lessons,  100,  142,  192. 

Grammar  and  composition,  38,  46,  62. 

Grant,  Horace,  270. 

Guessing,  ludicrous  instances,  257. 

History;  a  home  subject,  47  ;  how  taught,  61. 
Home  and  Colonial  School  Society,  93. 

Imitation  a  strong  agent,  119. 

Infant  culture,  48,  83,  100,  135,  148,  273. 

Infant  school  organization,  97. 

Infant's  schools ;    Oberlin,   76 ;    Wilderspin,   77  ;    Mayo's,    85  : 

Home  and  Colonial,  93  ;  kindergarten,  154. 
Inspectors  of  schools  ;  their  reports,  282. 


308  INDEX. 

Intellectual  system  established,  202. 
Interrogation  and  explanation,  207. 
Intuition,  66,  135. 
Invention,  50,  158. 

Kindergarten  system  ;  anticipated,  48 ;  Frobel's,  154. 
Knowledge,  first  through  the  senses,  66. 
Knox's  system,  38. 

Lancaster's  monitorial  system,  189. 

Langlande's  Piers  Plowman,  2. 

Langler's  phonic  method  books,  52. 

Language ;  an  instrument  of  culture,  16 ;  pupils'  ignorance  of, 
59  ;  Pestalozzi's  practice,  73  ;  ideas  before  words,  83  ;  object 
lessons,  136  ;  exposition  of,  208  ;  •word-getting,  257  ;  Tremen- 
heere  on  exposition,  203. 

Latin,  how  to  be  learnt,  12,  45. 

Learning;  objects  of,  7,  33;  thorough  and  familiar,  10,  57,  171; 
sham  leads  to  immorality,  17;  relation  to  character,  21 ;  not 
made  irksome,  34,  50 ;  not  to  be  a  game,  34,  41 ;  no  false 
associations  with,  56  ;  definite  lessons,  170  ;  relation  to  teach- 
ing, 240. 

Learning,  revival  of,  3. 

Lessors;  short,  67,  271  ;  on  form  and  colour,  141;  on  objects, 
71,  86,  136 ;  on  animals,  139;  connection  in,  68. 

Liberty,  not  coercion,  90. 

Little  things  in  obedience,  201 

Locke,  John,  19,  83,  221. 

Logical  faculty,  when  cultivated,  247. 

Long  quoted,  183,  232. 

Love  of  approbation,  132. 

Managers  of  schools,  how  treated,  123. 
Master ;  duties,  180 ;  qualifications,  204. 
Mayos,  64,  85,  96,  116,  119,  135,  141. 
Memory,  7,  43,  242. 


INDEX  309 

Mental  faculties,  all  to  be  trained,  72,  269,  299. 

Method  ;  importance,  42  ;  with  young  children,  69  ;  of  discovery, 

241;  outlims  first,  247  ;  picturing  out,  249 ;  training  out,  255  ; 

induction,  260  ;  in  education,  269  ;  synthesis,  277. 
Milton's  views  on  education,  14. 
Mind,  knowledge  of,  necessary,  204,  26-5,  271,  298. 
Mistakes;  how  corrected,  8  ;  not  t  >  he  ridiculed,  33. 
Monitorial  system  ;  Bell's,  162  ;  Lancaster's,  189. 
Monitors;  Comenius,  14 ;  Bell,  175;  Lancaster,  195. 
Moral  training;  its  po.-ition,  23 ;  barriers,  25  ;  discipline,  62,  111 ; 

chief  aim,  80;  moral  intelligence,  74;  nature,  81,  89  ;  moral 

diseases,  89,  127;   practice,  not  precept,  29;   mistakes,  114; 

emotions  of  self ,  116;  moral  instruction,  117  ;  conditions,  223  ; 

playground  and  moral  review,  228  ;  inseparable  from  religious, 

190,  215. 
Moseley's  reports,  283. 

National  system  of  education  first  mooted,  275. 
Natural  consequences  of  actions,  32,  62,  187. 
Necker  on  a  storm  of  words,  188. 
Normal  college  first  established  by  Stow,  213. 

Obedience,  63  ;  in  little  things,  201. 

Object  lessons,  71.  86,  136,  292. 

Obstinacy,  32,  64,  128,  130. 

Offences  and  offenders,  185. 

Ogle  on  punishments,  125. 

Oral  teaching,  208,  238,  261,  290,  298. 

Order  of  merit,  201. 

Organization ;  grammar  school,  47  ;  infant  schools,  97 ;    Bell's 

plans,  174  ;  Lancaster's,  193 ;  graded  school,  238 ;  Batteisea, 

277  ;  tripartite,  294. 
Overwork  is  pernicious,  272. 
Owen  on  infant  training,  76. 

Pain,  its  use  in  moral  training,  30. 
Palmerston  on  good  writing,  174. 


310  INDEX 

Penmanship,  37,  174. 

Pestalozzi,  14,  16,  48,  54,  56,  64,  86  300. 

Phonic  method  of  learning  to  read,  61 ,  2:9. 

Physical  education,  22,  79. 

Pictures ;  in  early  training,  49 ;  in  books,  14 ;  in  religious  in- 
struction, 108. 

Picturing  out,  14,  249. 

Pillans'  Letters,  203. 

Pioneers  in  education,  1 . 

Plagiarism  prevented,  47- 

Plato,  7,  44. 

Playground,  80,  82,  228. 

Poetry,  62  302. 

Practice  must  he  frequent,  195. 

Praise,  32,  132,  184. 

Precept  and  practice,  29,  74,  76,  81,  220. 

Precept  and  example,  81. 

Principles  and  plans,  170. 

Province  of  the  school,  163,  190. 

Public  opinion  in  school,  186,  198,  231. 

Punishment ;  discrimination  between  offences,  6 ;  depriving  of 
food,  25;  seldom  in  a  good  school,  124;  prevention,  125; 
spirit  of,  127;  by  natural  consequences,  128;  design,  186; 
Moseley  on,  286. 

Quintilian,  44,  162. 

Reading,  18,  34,  36,  44,  61,  161,  172,  192,  203,  208. 

Redgrave  on  colour,  141. 

Registers;  paidometer,  181  ;  of  offences,  186 

Reid  on  public  opinion,  233. 

Religious  education,  75,  104,  106,  163   218,  266,  284. 

Repetition,  171. 

Reproof,  187. 

Restraint,  91,  226. 

Rewards,  32,  132. 

Reynolds  on  moral  instruction,  119. 

Richter  on  toys,  49. 


INDEX.  311 

Rote  teaching  a  failure,  203. 

Saturday  Review  quoted,  34,  274. 

Sc  ptical  habit  formed,  245. 

School ;  work  olten  fruitless,  67  ;  a  happy  place,  80 ;  a  micro- 
cosm, 82  ;  method  tends  to  routine,  93  ;  province,  163  ;  moral 
function,  214. 

School- keeping  an  art,  179. 

School  life  i  eriods,  100,  191. 

Schoolmaster,  263. 

Scripture  piints,  168  ;  instruction,  105  ;  how  used,  266. 

Self-help,  167. 

Senses  in  education,  66,  68,  83.  88,  135,  268,  273,  278. 

Shame,  the  aim  of  punishment,  30. 

Shuttleworth,  275. 

Simple  to  complex,  70. 

Size  and  weight,  145. 

Spectator  used  in  teaching  English,  47. 

Spelling  to  follow  reading,  73. 

Stewart,  Dugald,  on  educating  the  whole  man,  299. 

Stow,  David,  14,  83,  96,  210 

Sugden  on  Stow's  system,  262. 

Syllabification,  Bell's  plan,  173. 

Sympathy ;  moulds  character,  120 ;  easily  excited,  129 ;  of 
numbers,  230. 

Synthetic  method,  277. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  134. 

Tate's  Arithmetic,  56. 

Teacher ;  choice  of,  21 ;  confess  ignorance,  34 ;  few  skilful,  93  ; 

weight  of  character,  125  ;  not  slave  to  routine,  170  ;  influence, 

183;  qualifications,  204;   should  teach,  237;   example,  280; 

skilful,  287. 
Teaching;  method,  83;  tests,   167;    requires  enthusiasm,   190; 

outlines  first,  247 ;  should  he  studied,  288 ;  inefficient,  292. 
Tegetmeier  on  lessons  on  animals,  139. 
Temptation  as  a  moral  agent,  226. 
Things  before  words,  16,  69,  83,  88. 


312  INDEX. 

Thorough  learning,  171. 

Threats,  128. 

Training  system,  210. 

Training  and  teaching,  213  ;  training  out,  254. 

Tremenheere's  reports,  296. 

Trial  by  jury,  186. 

Tripartite  organization,  294. 

Understanding  and  memory,  242. 
Understanding  essential  to  learning,  10. 

Ward  anticipated  Pestalozzi,  56,  146. 

Whitbread  attempts  to  obtain  aid  to  education,  275. 

Wilderspin,  77,  96. 

Will,  training  of,  63,  199. 

Wits,  quick  and  hard,  9. 

Wolsey's  instructions  to  masters,  3. 

Wood's  Intellectual  System,  202. 

Words  pictured,  251  ;  word-getting,  258. 

Writing,  37,  159,  170,  174. 

Wykeham's  school  at  Winchester,  2. 

Wyse  oil  educational  reform,  265. 


THE  END. 


000  955  029 


